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22d Congress. 
1st Session. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


Ho. op Reps. 


REPORT 


STEAM CARRIAGES, 

BT A 

SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 


GREAT BRITAIN: 


WITH THE 


MINUTES OF EVIDENCE 


AND 


APPEND! X. 


RBFRINTED BY ORDER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 


WASHINGTON: 
DUFF GREEN, PRINTER. 

1832. 








# 

In the House op Representatives op the United States, 

February 9, 1832. 

On motion of Mr. Mercer, 

Resolved , That the Report of a Select Committee of the House of Com¬ 
mons of Great Britain, bearing date October 12th, 1831, on the use of 
Steam Carriages on Common Roads, with the Minutes of Evidence, and 
Appendix attached thereto, be printed. 

' ’ t 












m 


h. 




\ 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


3 



REPORT. 


The Select Committee appointed to inquire into, and to report upon, the pro* 
portion of tolls which ought to be imposed upon coaches and other vehi¬ 
cles propelled by steam or gas, upon turnpike roads; and also, to inquire into, 
and to report upon, the rate of toll actually levied upon such coaches or 
other vehicles under any acts of Parliament now in force; and who were 
instructed to inquire generally into the present state and future prospects 
of land carriage by means of wheeled vehicles propelled by steam or gas 
on common roads; and to report upon the probable utility which the pub¬ 
lic may derive therefrom; and who were empowered to report the mi¬ 
nutes of the evidence taken bofore them, to the House; have examined 
the matters referred to them, and agreed to the following report: 

The committee proceeded, in the first instance, to inquire how far the 
science of propelling carriages on common roads by means of steam or me¬ 
chanical power, had been carried into practical operation; and whether the 
result of the experiments already made had been sufficiently favorable to 
justify their recommending to the House that protection should be extended 
to this mode of conveyance, should the tolls imposed on steam carriages, by 
local acts of Parliament, be found prohibitory or excessive. 

In the progress of their inquiry, they have extended their examination to 
the following points, on which the chief objections to this application of 
steam have been founded, viz. the insecurity of carriages so propelled, from 
the chance of explosion of the boiler, and the annoyance caused to travel¬ 
lers, on public roads, by the peculiar noise of the machinery, and by the 
escape of smoke and waste steam, which were supposed to be inseparable 
accompaniments. 

It being also in charge to the committee, “to report upon the proportion 
of tolls which should be imposed upon steam carriages,” they have examin¬ 
ed several proprietors of those already in use, as to the effect produced oo 
the surface of roads by the action of the propelling wheels. 

As this was too important a branch of their inquiry to rest entirely on the 
evidence of individuals, whose personal interest might have biassed their 
opinions, the committee also examined several very scientific engineers, by 
whose observations, on the causes of the ordinary wear of roads, they have 
been greatly assisted. 

The committee were directed also to report “on the probable utility whioh 
the public may derive from the use of steam carriages.” On this point they 
have examined a member of the committee, well known for his intelligence 
and research on subjects connected with the interests of society, and they 
feel that they cannot fulfil this part of their instructions better than by merely 
referring the House to the evidence of Colonel Torrens. 

These inquiries have led the committee to believe that the substitution of 
inanimate for animal power, in draught on common roads, is one of the 
most important improvements in the means of internal communication ever 



4 


[ Doc. No. 10). ] 

introduced. Its practicability they consider to have been fully established; 
its general adoption will take place more or less rapidly, in proportion as 
the attention of scientific men shall be drawn, by public encouragement, to 
further improvement. 

Many circumstances, however, must retard the general introduction of 
steam as a substitute for horse power on roads. One very formidable obsta¬ 
cle will arise from the prejudices which always beset a new invention, es¬ 
pecially one which will at first appear detrimental to the interests of so many 
individuals. This difficulty can only be surmounted by a f long course of suc¬ 
cessful, though probably unprofitable, experiment. The great expense of 
the engines must retard the progress of such experiments. The project¬ 
ors will, for along period, work with caution, fearing not only the expense 
incurred by failure, but also that too sudden an exposure of their success 
would attract the attention of rivals. It is difficult to exemplify to the House 
how-small and apparently unimportant an adaptation of the parts of the ma¬ 
chinery, or of the mode of generating or applying the steam, may be the cause 
of the most rapid success; yet he who, by along course of experiment, shall 
have first reached this point, may be unable to conceal the improvement, and 
others will at once reap the benefit of it. 

The committee are convinced, that the real merits of this invention are 
such,* that it may be safely left to contend with these and similar difficulties; 
there are others, however, from which the legislature can alone relieve it. 
Tolls, to an amount which would utterly prohibit the introduction of steam 
carriages, have been imposed on some roads; on others, the trustees have 
adopted modes of apportioning the charge which would be found, if not ab¬ 
solutely prohibitory, at least to place such carriages in a very unfair position 
as compared with ordinary coaches. 

Two causes may be assigned for the imposition of such excessive tolls 
upon steam carriages. The first, a determination on the part of the trus¬ 
tees, to obstruct, as much as possible, the use of steam as a propelling power; 
the second, and probably the more frequent, has been a misapprehension of 
their weight and effect on roads. Either cause appears to the committee a 
sufficient justification for their recommending to the House, that legislative 
protection should be extended to steam carriages with the least possible delay. 

It appears from the evidence, that the first extensive trial of steam as an 
agent in draught, on common roads, was that by Mr. Gurney, in 1829, who 
travelled from London to Bath and back in his steam carriage. He states, 
that although a part of the machinery which brings both the propelling wheels 
into action when the full power of the engine is required, was broken at 
the onset, yet that, on his return, he performed the last eighty-four miles, 
from Melksham to Cranford bridge, in ten hours, including stoppages. Mr. 
Gurney has given to the committee very full details of the form and power 
of his engine, which will be found in the evidence. 

The committee have also examined Messrs. Summers & Ogle, Mr. Han¬ 
cock, and Mr. Stone, whose steam carriages have been in daily use, for 
some months past on common roads. It is very satisfactory to find that, 
although the boilers of the several engines described, vary most materially 
in form, yet that each has been found fully to answer the expectation of its 
inventor. So well, in fact, have their experiments succeeded, that in each 
case where the proprietors have ceased to use them, it has Only been for the 
purpose of constructing more perfect carriages, in order to engage more ex¬ 
tensively in the business. 


5 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

When we consider that these trials have been made under the most unfa¬ 
vorable circumstances—at great expense—in total uncertainty—without 
any of those guides which experience has given to other branches of engi¬ 
neering;—that those engaged in making them are persons looking solely 
to their own interest, and not theorists attempting the perfection of ingeni¬ 
ous models;—when we find them convinced, after long experience, that 
they are introducing such a mode of conveyance as shall tempt the public, by 
its superior advantages, from the use of the admirable lines of coaches which 
have been generally established—it surely cannot be contended that the 
introduction of steam carriages on common roads is, as yet, an uncertain 
experiment, unworthy of legislative attention. 

Besides the carriages already described, Mr. Gurney has been informed, 
that from “ twenty to forty others are being built by different persons, all 
of which have been occasioned by his decided journey in 1829.” 

The committee have great pleasure in drawing the attention of the House 
to the evidence of Mr. Farey. His opinions are the more valuable from 
his uniting, in so great a degree, scientific knowledge to a practical acquaint¬ 
ance with the subject under consideration. He states that he has “no 
doubt whatever but that a steady perseverance in such trials will lead to the 
general adoption of steam carriages;” and again, “that what has been done 
proves to his satisfaction the practicability of impelling stage coaches by 
steam) on good common roads, in tolerably level parts of the country, with¬ 
out horses, at a speed of eight or ten miles per hour.” 

Much, of course, must remain to be done in improving their efficiency; 
yet Mr. Gurney states that he has kept up steadily the fate of twelve miles 
per hour; that “ the extreme rate at which he has run is between twenty 
and thirty miles per hour.” 

Mr. Hancock “rekons that, with his carriage, he could keep up a speed 
of ten miles per hour, without injury to the machine.” 

Mr. Ogle states ‘‘that his experimental carriage went from London to 
Southampton, in some places, at a velocity of from thirty-two to thirty-five 
miles per hour.” 

“ That they have ascended a hill rising one in six, at sixteen and a half 
miles per hour, and four miles of the London road at the rate of twenty- 
four miles and a half per hour, loaded with people.” 

“ That his engine is capable of carrying three tons weight, in addition to 
its own.” 

Mr. Summers adds, “ that they have travelled in the carriage at the rate 
of fifteen miles per hour, with nineteen persons on the carriage, up a hill 
one in twelve.” 

“ That he has continued, for four hours and a half, to travel at the rate of 
thirty miles per hour.” 

“ That he has found no difficulty of travelling over the worst and most 
hilly roads.” 

Mr. James Stone states that “thirty-six persons have been carried on 
one steam carriage.” 

“ That the engine drew five times its own weight nearly, at the rate of 
from five to six miles per hour, partly up an inclination.” 

The several witnesses have estimated the probable saving of expense to 
the public, from the substitution of steam power for that of horses, at from 
one-half to two-thirds. Mr. Farey gives, as his opinion, “that steam 


6 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

coaches will, very soon after their first establishment, be ran for one-third 
of the cost of the present stage coaches.” 

Perhaps one of the principal advantages resulting from the use of steam, 
will be, that it may be employed as cheaply at a quick as at a slow rate; 
“this is one of the advantages over horse labor, which becomes more and 
more expensive as the speed is increased. There is every reason to ex¬ 
pect that, in the end, the rate of travelling by steam will be much quicker 
than the utmost speed of travelling by horses; in short, the safety to travel¬ 
lers will become the limit to speed.” In horse draught the opposite result 
takes place; “ in all cases horses lose power of draught in a much greater 
proportion than they gain speed, and hence the work they do becomes more 
expensive as they go quicker.” On this, and other points referred to in 
the report, the committee have great pleasure in drawing the attention of 
the House to the valuable evidences of Mr. Davies Gilbert. 

Without increase of cost, then, we shall obtain a power which will insure 
a rapidity of internal communication far beyond the utmost speed of horses 
in draught; and although the performance of these carriages may not have 
hitherto attained this point, when once it has been established, that at equal 
speed we can use steam more cheaply in draught than horses, we may fairly 
anticipate that every day’s increased experience in the management of the 
engines, will induce greater skill, greater confidence, and greater speed. 

The cheapness of the conveyance will probably be for some time a secon¬ 
dary consideration. If at present it can be used as cheaply as horse power, 
the competition with the former modes of conveyance will first take place 
as to speed. When once the superiority of steam carriages shall have been 
fully established, competition will induce economy in the cost of working 
them. The evidence, however, of Mr. Macneil, showing the greater effi¬ 
ciency, with diminished expenditure of fuel, by locomotive engines on rail¬ 
ways, convinces the committee that experience will soon teach a better 
construction of the engines, and a less costly mode of generating the re¬ 
quisite supply of steam. 

Nor are the advantages of steam power confined to the greater velocity 
attained, or to its greater cheapness than horse draught.* In the latter, dan¬ 
ger is increased, in as large a proportion as expense, by greater speed. In 
steam power, on the contrary, “there is no danger of being run away with, 
and that of being overturned is greatly diminished. It is difficult to con¬ 
trol four such horses as can draw a heavy carriage ten miles per hour, in 
case they are frightened or choose to run away; and for quick travelling 
they must be kept in that state of courage, that they are always inclined for 
running away, particularly down hills and at sharp turns of the road. In 
steam, however, there is little corresponding danger, being perfectly con¬ 
trollable, and capable of exerting its power in reverse in going down hills.” 
Every witness examined has given the fullest and most satisfactory evidence 
of the perfect control which the conductor has over the movement of the 
carriage. With the slightest exertion it can be stopped or turned, under cir¬ 
cumstances where horses would be totally unmanageable. 

The committee have, throughout their examinations, been most anxious to 
ascertain whether the apprehension very commonly entertained, that an ex¬ 
tensive use of these carriages on roads would be the cause of frequent acci¬ 
dents and continued annoyance to the public, were well founded. 

The danger arising from the use of steam carriages, was stated to be two- 


7 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

fold; that to which passengers are exposed from explosion of the boiler, and 
the breaking of the machinery, and the effect produced on horses by the 
noise and appearance of the engine. 

Steam has been applied as a power in draught in two ways: in the one, 
both passengers and engine are placed on the same carriage; in the other, 
the engine carriage is merely used to draw the carriage in which the load is 
conveyed. In either case, the probability of danger from explosion has 
been rendered infinitely small, from the judicious construction of boiler 
which has been adopted. 

These boilers expose a very considerable surface to the fire, and steam is 
generated with the greatest rapidity. From their peculiar form, the requi¬ 
site supply of steam depends on its continued and rapid formation; no large 
and dangerous quantity can at any time be collected. Should the safety 
valve be stopped, and the supply of steam be kept up in a greater abundance 
than the engines require, explosion may take place, but the danger would 
be comparatively trifling, from the small quantity of steam which could act 
on any one portion of the boilers. As an engine, invented by Mr. Trevi¬ 
thick, has not been as yet applied to carriages, the committee can do no 
more than draw the attention of the House to the ingenuity of its contri¬ 
vance. Should it in practice be found to answer his expectation, it will re¬ 
move entirely all danger from explosion. In each of the carriages described 
to the committee, the boilers have been proved to a considerably greater 
pressure than they can ever have to sustain. 

Mr. Farey considers that “ the danger of explosion is less than the dan¬ 
ger attendant on the use of horses in draught; that the danger in these boilers 
is less than in those employed on the railway, although there even, the in¬ 
stances of explosion have been very rare.” The danger arising to passen¬ 
gers from the breaking of the machinery, need scarcely be taken into con¬ 
sideration. It is a mere question of delay, and can scarcely exceed in fre¬ 
quency the casualties which may occur with horses. 

It has been frequently urged against these carriages, that wherever they 
shall be introduced, they must effectually prevent all other travelling on the 
road, as no horse will bear quietly the noise and smoke of the engine. 

The committee believe that these statements are unfounded. Whatever 
noise may be complained of, arises from the present defective construction 
of the machinery, and will be corrected as the makers of such carriages gain 
greater experience. Admitting even that the present engines do work with 
some noise, the effect on horses has been greatly exaggerated. All the wit¬ 
nesses accustomed to travel in these carriages, even on the crowded roads 
adjacent to the Metropolis, have stated that horses are very seldom fright¬ 
ened in passing. Mr. Farey and Mr. Macneil have given even more 
favorable evidence in respect to the little annoyance they create. 

No smoke need arise from such engines. Coke is usually burned in loco¬ 
motive engines, on railways, to obviate this annoyance; and those si earn 
carriages which have been hitherto established also burn it. Their liability 
to be indicted as nuisances will sufficiently check their using any offensive 
fuel. 

There is no reason to fear that waste steam will cause much annoyance. 
In Mr. Hancock’s engine it passes into the fire, and in other locomotive 
engines it is used in aid of the power, by creating a quicker draught and 
more rapid combustion of the fuel. In Mr. Trevithick’s engine it will be 
returned into the boiler. 


8 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The committee not having received evidence that gas has been practical¬ 
ly employed in propelling carriages on common roads, have not considered 
it expedient to inquire as to the progress made by several very scientific 
persons who are engaged in making experiments on gasses, with the view 
of procuring a still cheaper and more efficient power than steam. 

The committee having satisfied themselves that steam has been successful¬ 
ly adopted as a substitute for horse power on roads, proceeded to examine 
whether tolls have been imposed on carriages thus propelled, so excessive 
as to require legislative interference, and also to consider the rate of tolls by 
which steam carriages should be brought to contribute, in fair proportion 
with other carriages, to the maintenance of the roads on which they may be 
used. 

They have annexed a list of those local acts in which tolls have been 
been placed on steam, or mechanically propelled carriages. 

Mr. Gurney has given the following specimens of the oppressive rates of 
tolls adopted in several of these acts: On the Liverpool and Prescot road, 
Mr. Gurney’s carriage would be charged £2 8s. while a loaded stage coach 
would pay only 4s. On the Bathgate road the same carriage would be 
charged d01 7S. Id., while a coach drawn by fouHiorses would pay 5s. On 
the Ashburnham and Totness road Mr. Gurney would have to pay £ 2 , while 
a coach drawn by four horses would be charged only 3s. On the Teign- 
mouth and Davvlish roads the proportion is 12s. to 2s. 

Such exorbitant tolls on steam carriages can only be justified on the fol¬ 
lowing grounds: 

First, because the number of passengers conveyed on, or by, a steam car¬ 
riage will be so great as to diminish (at least the extent of the difference of 
the rate of toll) the total number of carriages used on the road; or, secondly, 
because steam carriages induce additional expense in the repairs of the road. 

The committee see no reason to suppose that, for the present, the substi¬ 
tution of steam carriages, conveying a greater number of persons than com¬ 
mon coaches, will take place to any very material extent; and, as to the se¬ 
cond cause of increased charge, the trustees, in framing their tolls, have pro¬ 
bably not minutely calculated the amount of injury to roads likely to arise 
from them. 

The committee are of opinion that the only ground on which a fair claim 
to toll can be made on any public road, is to raise a fund which, with the 
strictest economy, shall be just sufficient, first, to repay the expense of its 
original formation; secondly, to maintain it in good and sufficient repair. 

Although the committee anticipate that the time is not far distant when, 
in framing a scheme of toll for steam carriages, their general adoption, and 
the great number of passengers which will be conveyed on a small num¬ 
ber of vehicles, will render it necessary not only to consider the amount of 
injury actually done to the road, but also the amount of debt which may 
have been incurred for its formation or maintenance; yet at present they 
feel justified by the limited number of such carriages, and by the great diffi¬ 
culties they will have to encounter, in recommending to the House, that, in 
adopting a system of toll, the proportion of “ wear and tear” of roads by 
steam, as compared with other carriages, should alone be taken into conside¬ 
ration. 

Unless an experiment were instituted on two roads, the one reserved 
solely for the use of steam coaches, the other for carriages drawn by horses, 
for the purpose of ascertaining accurately the relative wear of each, it would 


9 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

be quite impossible to fix with certainty the proportion of tolls to which, on 
the same road, each class of vehicles should be liable. To approximate, 
however, as nearly as possible to the standard of relative wear, the commit¬ 
tee have compared the weights of steam carriages with those of loaded van- 
and stage coaches. They have tried to ascertain the causes of the wear of 
roads; also the proportion of injury done by the feet of horses and the 
wheels of coaches; how far that injury is increased by increased velocity, 
and also in what degree the wear of roads by loaded carriages may be de¬ 
creased by any particular form of wheel. 

The committee would direct the attention of the House especially to the 
evidence of Mr. Macneil, whose observations on this branch of the subject, 
being founded on a long course of very accurate experiment, are peculiarly 
interesting and useful. He estimates that the feet of horses drawing a fast 
coach, are more injurious to the road than the wheels, in the proportion 
of three to one, nearly; that this proportion will increase with the velocity; 
that by increasing the breadth of the tires of the wheels, the injury done to 
roads by great weights may be counteracted. He considers that, on a good 
road, one ton may be safely carried on each inch of width of tire of the 
wheels. 

Mr. M’Adam and Mr. Telford have given corresponding evidence as to 
the greater wear caused by horses’ feet than by wheels of carriages. 

Each of the above witnesses agrees, that, adding the weight of the horses 
to that of the coach, and comparing to the injury done to a road by a steam 
carriage of a weight equal to that of the coach and horses (the wheels being 
of a proper width of tire), the deterioration of the road will be much less 
by the steam carriage than by the coach and horses. 

As to the injury to roads which is anticipated from the “ slipping” of the 
wheels, it may safely be left to the proprietors to correct: the action of the 
wheel slipping involves a waste of power and an useless expenditure of fuel, 
which, for their own sakes, they will avoid. 

Apprehension has also been entertained that, although the peculiar action 
of the wheels may not be injurious, yet that, from the great power which 
may be applied if the steam were worked at very high pressure, or if the 
size of the engine were increased, greater weight might be carried than the 
strength of the road could bear. 

Undoubtedly, in proportion to the advance of the science, will be the in¬ 
crease of weight drawn by an engine with a given expenditure of fuel; but 
there are many practical difficulties to be surmounted before the weight so 
drawn can reach the point when it could be destructive of roads. There are 
no theoretical reasons against the extension of the size of the engines. The dif¬ 
ficulties, according to Mr. Gurney, are of a practical nature, and only in the 
“difficulty of management of a large engine.” In proportion as we aug- 
mentthe power of theengines, we mustincreasetheirstrength, and consequent¬ 
ly their weight; the greater weight will be a material diminution of their effi¬ 
ciency. To a certain extent the power may be increased in a greater ratio 
than the weight, but, with our limited knowledge of the application of steam, 
and with the present formation of the public roads, the point will be very 
soon attained, when the advantage of increased power will be counterbalanc¬ 
ed by the difficulties attendant on the increased weight of the engines. 

The weight of the steam carriages at present in use, varies from 53 to SO 
cwt.; but it must be recollected that they are mere models; they were made 
with attention to strength only, to bear the uncertain strain to which they 
2 


10 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

would be exposed in the course of experiments, and a very considerable 
diminution of weight may be anticipated. 

The weight drawn, at the rate of ten miles per hour, By Mr. Gurney’s 
engine, has not, on any extent of road, exceded the weight of the drawing 
carriage; nor is it likely, with the difficulties to be encountered on the pre¬ 
sent lines of road, from their quality and the numerous ascents, that the 
weight drawn will be in excess of the strength of the roads. The immense 
quantity of spare power required to surmount the different degrees of resist¬ 
ance likely to occur, would render the engine too unmanageable. This will 
appear evident from the force of traction required to draw a wagon over the 
Holyhead and Shrewsbury road, which varied from 40 to upwards of 300 lbs. 

In considering the effect on roads, we must not overlook one peculiarity 
in which they have a great advantage over other carriages. In coaches 
drawn by horses, the power being without the machine to be removed, it 
becomes an object of the greatest importance to give as much effect as pos¬ 
sible to the power, by diminishing the resistance arising from the friction 
of the wheels upon the surface of the road. For this purpose, the proprie¬ 
tors of coaches and wagons have adopted every possible contrivance, so to 
reduce the tires of their wheels, that a very small portion of them may press 
on the road; in some coaches they are made circular in their cross section, 
so that the entire weight of the carriage presses on a mere point; should the 
materials be soft, such wheels cut their way into the road like a sharp instru¬ 
ment. The owners of wagons too have adopted a similar plan. Mr. Mac- 
neil states that the actual bearing part of the tire of apparently broad-wheel 
wagons, is reduced to three inches by the contrivance of one band of the 
tire projecting beyond the others. 

With steam, on the contrary, a certain amount of adhesion to the roads 
is required to give effect to the action of the machinery, or the wheels would 
slip round and make no progress. It appears of little importance therefore, 
so far as relates to the engine, whether the requisite amount of friction be 
spread over a broad surface of tire, or be concentrated to a small point; but 
as the wheels, by being too narrow, would have a tendency to bury them¬ 
selves in every soft or newly made road, and thus raise a perpetual resistance 
to their own progress, it actually becomes an advantage to adopt that form 
which is least injurious to the road. The proprietors, who have been ex¬ 
amined on this point, seem to be quite indifferent as to the breadth of tire 
they may be required to use. 

Ihese considerations have convinced the committee, that the tolls enforc¬ 
ed on steam carriages have, in general, far exceeded the rate which their in- 
junousness to roads, in comparison with other carriages, would warrant; they 
have found, however, considerable difficulty in framing a scale of tolls ap¬ 
plicable to all roads, in lieu of those authorized by several local acts. 

With this view, they have carefully examined the various modes of im¬ 
posing toll either suggested by the witnesses, or already adopted. 

They are as follows: 

1. To place a toll proportioned to the weight of the carriage and load; 

2. On the number of passengers; 

3. On the horse-power of the engine; 

4. On the number of wheels; 

5. An unvarying toll. 

Each of these plans seems liable to serious objections, which the commit¬ 
tee beg to submit to the House. 


11 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

No plan of toll has been more frequentlj recommended than that of a 
charge in proportion to the weight of the engine and load. . As this is the 
most plausible, and (if it could be levied without other disadvantages) would 
probably be the fairest standard, the committee have considered it right to 
state, at some length, their reasons for not recommending its adoption. 

If weight be taken as the standard, the toll must be a fixed charge, 
either upon the weight of the engine and carriage, without reference to the 
load; or upon an estimated average of the load carried; or a fluctuating 
charge, according to the weight, at the several periods of a journey. 

The first would be at least free from the uncertainty of the other two, and 
therefore would be preferable; but what scale of charge per cwt. could the 
committee recommend as applicable to all roads? Their toll should vary ac¬ 
cording to every different rate of charge on carriages; besides, it would ap¬ 
pear to the trustees very unjust to exclude the consideration of that which 
would be deemed the most material cause of the wear of their roads, viz; 
the load. 

A fluctuating charge on weight would be most injurious to a carriage, 
which will mainly depend for success on its speed; constant altercations 
would take place between the toll collectors and proprietors; a minute calcu¬ 
lation would be required at every turnpike gate; in fact, unless an accountant 
were placed at each, the committee cannot conceive how the proportions 
could be satisfactorily arranged, nor would there be any desire, on the part 
of the toll collector, to shorten the delay occasioned by these interruptions. 

Mr. Gurney has delivered in a scale of tolls graduated according to 
weight and width of tire of the wheel. As this has been drawn up by a 
person interested in the success of steam carriages, it might have been ex¬ 
pected to be more favorable to them. The committee, however, have not 
adopted it, because of the difficulties and interruptions which a fluctuating 
rate of toll would induce; besides, this scale purports to be intended for a 
road, where 3d. is charged for a horse drawing, and Id. for a horse not 
drawing; the scale would be inapplicable therefore when the charge was 2d. 
and Id., 3d. and 1 id., 4d. and 1 d., 4 d. and 1 \d., 8 d. and so on. Again, 
what standard of weight, in relation to horse coaches, could be adopted? 
The average weight of loaded coaches differs very much on different roads. 
It has been suggested, that a loaded coach, including the weight of four 
horses, would weigh on an average four tons; and that if 6 d. per horse were 
chargeable to the coach, Gd. per ton should be placed on a steam carriage; 
this would be unjust, as vans, which frequently weigh upwards of six tons, 
would only pay 2s., and a steam carriage would pay 3s. Even if the inju¬ 
ry done to the road by each were equal, this would be an unfair toll; but it 
will appear more evidently unjust if the greater proportionate injury done 
by the feet of horses drawing, than by the propelling wheels, be taken into 
consideration. 

The object of every steam coach proprietor will be to attain the greatest 
possible lightness of machinery and engine; because thereby he renders his 
power more efficient for the draught of the remunerating load. To place 
the toll on the weight of the engine would tend to induce him to decrease 
the strength of his boiler and machinery to an extent which might be dan¬ 
gerous to the passengers, and very detrimental to the success of steam travel¬ 
ling, as the public will easily^ be led to believe, that the accidents really oc¬ 
curring from injudicious legislation, were inseparable from the adoption of 
this power as an agent in propelling carriages. 


12 


[ Doc: No. 101. ] 

The only fair plea for charging tolls on such carriages, in proportion to 
their weight, is to prevent a load being propelled or carried which would 
permanently injure the road; within this limit it would be as injudicious to 
interfere with their progressive efficiency, (which can only result from im¬ 
provements of the machinery and the system of generating and applying 
steam) as it would be to tax carriages drawn by large and well-bred horses,^ 
more heavily than such as were drawn by horses in worse condition and ot 
smaller size and power. 

The roads at present have to sustain wagons, weighing, at times, with 
their horses, nearly ten tons; it is in evidence, that the breadth of wheels 
required by various acts of Parliament, is so easily evaded, that it affords no 
protection to the road. There appears to the committee no fair reason to sup¬ 
pose that steam carriages, approaching even to this weight, will be used 
on any turnpike road, at least for a very considerable period, during which 
the increase of weight will be gradual, and will give warning to the legisla¬ 
ture when it should interfere. 

To charge a toll according to the number of passengers conveyed, is scarce¬ 
ly less objectionable. If a fluctuating toll be intended, it would be as inad¬ 
missible as to propose a similar mode of charging for fast coaches, and would 
be open to all the cavil and interruptions to which a fluctuating toll on weight 
would be liable. If the toll were fixed according to the number of passen¬ 
gers the carriage were capable of conveying, it would imply the necessity of 
a license limiting the number of passengers, and cramping the progress of 
improvement of a machine, the capabilities of which can only be ascertain¬ 
ed slowly and by continued experiment. 

It must be also recollected that these carriages will probably have to travel 
for a long period without passengers, until by their punctuality and safety 
they shall have induced the public to venture in them. Nor is this proba¬ 
bility weakened by the immense number of passengers who commenced 
using the locomotive carriages on the Manchester and Liverpool railway 
immediately after their introduction: these engines were established among 
a population accustomed to machinery and steam, and therefore not enter¬ 
taining the same apprehensions of its danger which will require to be sur¬ 
mounted elsewhere. 

The trustees of the Liverpool and Prescot road have already obtained the 
sanction of the legislature to charge the monstrous toll of Is. 6d; per 
“ horse-power,” as if it were a national object to prevent the possibility of 
such engines being used. Besides, they have supplied no standard of their 
own conception of horse-power. Engineers have differed very much in 
their estimates of this power; there is not, therefore, much probability that 
the opposite interests of a steam coach proprietor and toll collector would 
lead to any agreement as to the meaning of the term. But suppose the le¬ 
gislature were to settle this point, and to arrange that a certain length of 
stroke and diameter of cylinder should represent a certain power, we still 
fail to ascertain that which alone it is essential to know, viz. the actual effi¬ 
ciency of the engine. Can we regulate the density of steam at which an 
engine of a given size should be worked? To be effectual, it would be also 
necessary to ascertain the quantity of water consumed, and even this check 
would be inadequate with an engine on Mr. Trevithick’s principle. If the 
toll be left as at present on “ horse power,” it would be the obvious interest 
of the proprietor to work with the smallest nominal power, but to increase 
as much as possible the force of his steam, thereby increasing the probabili¬ 
ty of explosion. 


13 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Some trustees have placed the toll upon the number of wheels. The 
committee would object to this mode of charge, if only, because it interferes 
between the rival modes of steam travelling, and gives a bounty in favor of 
that in which the engine is placed on the same carriage with the passengers. 
The opposite plan of separating the engine from the ’carriage is that which 
probably the public will prefer, until the safety of the mode of conveyance 
shall have been fully ascertained. 

There is still a more serious objection to this mode of charge: it tends to 
discourage the use of separate carriages; although it must be evident that, 
if a certain weight be carried, it will be much less injurious to the road when 
divided over eight wheels, than when carried on four onl} r . On this point, 
the committee must again refer to Mr. MacneiPs evidence. They cannot, 
therefore, recommend the House to adopt a scale of toll which shall increase 
in inverse proportion to the injury done to the road. It will be seen in Mr. 
M’Adam’s evidence, that the toll on steam coaches imposed by the Metro¬ 
politan roads act, is liable to this objection. 

Some of the local acts have placed an unvarying toll on steam carriages. 
This, if moderate, would be unobjectionable; but the committee could not 
propose any sum which would adapt itself to the necessary varieties of ex¬ 
pense in keeping up different roads, by which the tolls on common carriages 
have been regulated. A fixed toll has, too, this disadvantage: that light ex¬ 
perimental carriages, or such as are built solely for speed, would be liable to 
the same toll as steam carriages heavily laden. 

The committee feel that, however strong their conviction may be of the 
comparatively small injury which properly constructed steam carriages will 
do to the roads, yet this conviction is founded more on theory, and perhaps 
what may be considered as interested evidence, than practical experience; 
they would therefore recommend that the House should not make, at pre¬ 
sent, any permanent regulations in favor of steam. The experience which 
will be gained in a very few years, will enable the legislature to form a 
more correct judgment of the effect of steam carriages on roads, than can 
be now made. They therefore recommend that the tolls imposed on steam 
carriages by local acts, where they shall be unfavorable to steam, shall be 
suspended during three years; and that, in lieu thereof, the trustees shall be 
permitted to charge toll according to the rate to which the committee have 
agreed. 

The House will have perceived, in the former part of this report, that 
there are two modes of applying steam in lieu of horses in draught: one, 
where the engine and passengers are on the same carriage; the other, where 
the engine is placed on separate wheels, and is merely used to propel or draw 
the carriage. Although the difference of weight may be in favor of the 
former mode, yet, as on the latter it is divided over eight wheels instead of 
four, its small excess cannot justify a larger toll being imposed, as it will 
be found much less injurious to the roads. The committee therefore recom¬ 
mend that, in charging toll, the engine carriage and carriage drawn shall be 
considered but as one. 

As it is the opinion of all the engineers examined, that the use of nar¬ 
row wheels has been the great cause of the wear of roads, and that cylindri¬ 
cal wheels, of a certain width of tire, are not only the least injurious, but 
that, in some states of the road, they may be even beneficial, the committee 
recommend that the wheels of the engine carriage should be required to 
be cylindrical, and of not less than 3£ inches width of tire. No proprietor 


14 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

of steam carriages has expressed the slightest fear of any inconvenience or 
loss from the use of such wheels. Beyond this, the committee would not 
recommend interference with the breadth of tire, or form of wheels: it 
should be left to the proprietors freely to select the breadth of tire they shall 
find most convenient in proportion to the weight carried. 

The committee have divided steam carriages (intended for passengers) in¬ 
to two classes, to be subject to different rates of toll. The first, where the 
carriage is not plying for hire, or where, if plying for hire, it shall not be 
calculated for, or carry at any time, more than six passengers. The original 
cost of such machines, and the expense of working them, will sufficiently 
protect the roads from any great number of merely experimental carriages; 
and for the same reason they will not be of a weight or size likely'to be in¬ 
jurious! A steam carriagejonly calculated to convey six passengers, will be 
solely used where great speed is required, and will be so light as to cause 
very little wear of the road, probably much less than many carriages drawn 
by the number of horses which the committee recommend as the standard 
of charge for this class. The toll, therefore, proposed to be placed on this 
class of steam carriages is that, which (on the several roads where they may 
be used) is charged on a carriage drawn by two horses. 

In the second class, they have placed all other steam carriages, except those 
travelling at slow rates, for goods only: carriages of this class should pay 
the same toll as may be charged on a coach drawn by four horses. This may 
at first appear unjust from the supposed power of steam to draw almost un¬ 
limited weight. The committee have already enumerated the difficulties 
hitherto encountered in attempting to propel very heavy loads on turnpike 
roads. They are such as to discourage the expectation, that, within any 
short period of time, the system will have been so perfected as to give rise 
to inconvenience from this source: should any hereafter be found, it will 
then be sufficient to remedy the defect. Until a due proportion of the parts 
of the machinery shall have been ascertained, the makers of these carriages 
will vary but cautiously from the models at present in use: their object will 
be, for some time, the perfecting of them, rather than the uncertain experi¬ 
ment of increasing their size. 

The committee do not anticipate that, for a considerable period, steam 
will be used as a propelling power on common roads for heavy wagons. It 
appears to have been the general opinion of the witnesses, that, in proportion 
as the velocity of travelling by steam on common roads is diminished, the 
advantages of steam over horse power are lost. The efficiency of horses 
in draught is rapidly diminished as their speed is increased; while, on the 
contrary* the weight which could be carried or propelled at any great ve¬ 
locity, by steam, could not be more cheaply conveyed were the speed de¬ 
creased to that of the slowest wagon. 

As speed, therefore, is the cause of greatly increased expense where horses 
are used, while with steam it is comparatively unimportant, it is probable 
that the latter will be chiefly resorted to when rapidity of conveyance is re¬ 
quired. Mr. Gurney considers, that, under four miles per hour, horses can 
be used in draught more economically than steam. Should it, however, be 
deemed profitable to convey heavy goods by steam carriages, the committee 
recommend that there should be as little interference as possible with the 
number of carts employed; as the effect on the surface of roads would be 
infinitely more injurious if heavy loads were placed on a single cart, 
than if the same weight were divided over several. The committee recom- 


15 


[ Doc. No. 101. *j 

mend, that where carriages, containing heavy goods alone, are propelled by 
steam, the weight of the load should be charged, without reference to the 
number of carts on which it may be carried. 

As a horse is able to draw from 20 to 10 cwt. on common roads, they 
propose that each 20 cwt. of load conveyed in, or drawn by, a steam carriage, 
should be chargeable at the same rate of toll as one horse drawing a cart 

A charge on weight is not so objectionable where goods are conveyed at 
a slow rate, as when speed is alone required. 

In conclusion, the committee submit the following summary of the evi¬ 
dence, given by the several witnesses, as to the progress made in the appli¬ 
cation of steam to the purposes of draught on common roads. 

Sufficient evidence has been adduced to convince your committee— 

1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an ave¬ 
rage rate of ten miles per hour. 

2. That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of fourteen passengers. 

3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water and attendants, may 
be under three tons. 

4. That they can ascend and decend hills of considerable inclination with 
facility and safety. 

5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. 

6. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) nuisances 
to the public. 

7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance 
than carriages drawn by horses. 

8. That as they admit of greater breadth of tire than other carriages, and 
as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the feet of horses in 
common draught, such carriages will cause less wear of roads than 
coaches drawn by horses. 

9. That rates of toll have been imposed on steam carriages, which would 
prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such charges 
permitted to remain unaltered. 


MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 


Mercurii , 3° die August^ 1831. 


Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney called in, and examined. 

Are you the proprietor of a steam carriage used on public roads? Not 
the proprietor; I am the patentee. . 

On what roads have you commenced running such carnages. I have 
commenced on several roads. The first road I commenced was Edgeware, 
then Stanmore; I ran there for a short time only; principally experimental¬ 
ly; then to Barnet, to Edgeware, to Finchley, and other places. I also ran 
a carriage on my own account to Bath and back; that was onlyone journey; 




16 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

an experimental journey. Since that they have been running as public 
stages, principally between Gloucester and Cheltenham. 

For what period? Since February last. They were stopped about three 
weeks, in consequence of an accident to one of the axle-trees; they were to 
begin again about this time. 

Have you been yourself on these carriages while they have been running? 
Yes; in the first instance, I almost always accompanied the carriage. 

State in detail the progress which you have made in bringing these car¬ 
riages to their present improved state? I must beg to have reference to the 
drawings. [ The witness produced the drawings , Nos. 1,2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.] 
This first drawing, No. 1, was the first experiment I made connected with 
the subject, in which I conceived I had removed the difficulty of driving 
steam carriages on common roads, by inventing a light and powerful boiler, 
of which this is a representation. The application of that boiler will be 
seen in No. 2. The boiler itself is not represented on the carriage in this 
drawing, but simply the engine, and the modes of propelling the carriage. 
This was in the year 1S25. It was then a very prevalent opinion that the bite 
or friction of the power to the ground was not sufficient to propel the car¬ 
riage along a common road, particularly up hill; it was thought that the 
wheel would turn round, and the carriage not proceed. With that view, the 
apparatus shown in this figure, No. 2, which I call feet or propellers, were 
proposed to be used; the mode of action I presume will be seen from the 
drawing. I soon found by experience, in numerous experiments not con¬ 
nected with the drawing, that the propellers were rarely or never wanted; 
and I then applied the power immediately to the two hind wheels, through 
a crank, in the common mode of a steamboat, the propellers being also fixed, 
but travelling slower than the wheels, were brought into action if the wheels 
slipped, which it was thought would be the casein difficult situations. This 
carriage went up Idighgate hill in 1826, and to Edgeware, also to Stanmore, 
and went up Stanmore hill, and Brockley hill, near Stanmore, and against 
all those hills the wheels never turned, and the legs never came into action. 
This is No. 3. After these experiments, the legs or propellers were entire¬ 
ly removed, and from further experiment it was found, by a peculiar appli¬ 
cation of the steam, (namely, by “ wire drawing,”) that the bite of one of 
the hind wheels was sufficient for all common purposes. If the steam was 
let on suddenly, the wheel would turn round, and the carriage not go for¬ 
ward; but when wire-drawn, one wheel was found sufficient. By this ar¬ 
rangement, also, the carriage was guided more accurately and more easily. 
The second wheel was applied by uniting it with the crank at any time, if 
one was found insufficient. 

In general, were the wheels connected together, or had they an independ¬ 
ent motion? Always one was attached to the axle; they had no independ¬ 
ent motion; this will be seen by reference to No. 5 on the arm or carrier of 
the wheel (which is a part of the axle,) and can be attached to the wheel at 
pleasure by a bolt, making the wheel alsodn that case part of the axle. This 
carriage, 1 should observe, ran to Barnet, snd went up all the hills to Bar- 
net, in 1S27, with one wheel only attached to the axle, and was run for 
about eighteen months experimentally in the neighborhood of London. From 
these experiments showing that one wheel was sufficient to propel the car¬ 
riage, and the carriage being at the same time reduced two thirds in weight, 
it was thought desirable to draw another carriage, instead of to carry on the 
same; that will be seen in No. 5. This carriage went to Bath, and over all 


17 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


the hills between Cranford bridge and Bath, and returned with only one 
wheel attached to the axle; the other carrier, by means of attachment, having 
broken in the first onset, and not having been repaired until after its return; 
the carriage was also injured slightly at Melksham, in consequence of a riot 
there. We waited about two days at Bath to get this injury repaired, and 
returned from Melksham to Cranford bridge in ten hours, a distance of 
eighty-four miles, including stoppages. I have come now almost to the 
practical application of it. This is a drawing of the carriages we are now 
now building (No. 6.) 

Have you made any alteration in the formation of the boilers since 1S25? 
M/e have altered and changed in the mechanism only; the principle has been 
invariably adhered to; the present carriage is deprived of its chimney, and 
a variety of other disagreeables about the carriage. 

Has your principle, with respect to all, remained the same? Precisely the 
same. 

How far have you improved the formation of your working carriage as 
to weight? The weight was a principal objection to the practical application 
of the carriage. The first carriage of a given power weighed four tons; this 
was objectionable on account of its weight, which was severely felt in con¬ 
sequence of its effect on the roads. I thought it would injure the roads, 
which injury would produce a toll that would perhaps injure the economy 
of it: No. 3, weighed four tons; No- 4, weighed three tons, with the same 
power; No. 5, two tons, with the same power; the present carriages build¬ 
ing will not weigh more than 35 cwt. with the same power. 

What does the carriage which runs between Gloucester and Cheltenham 
weigh? By a letter from the magistrate, now produced, it is stated to weigh 
nearly three tons; it ought to weigh only 45 cwt.; if it weighs three tons, 
there is extra weight, of which I know nothing. This which I produce a 
sketch of, marked No. 6, weighs 35 cwt. and it has the same power. Those 
carriages at Gloucester were built principally under the superintendence of 
another person. 

When you state the weight of 35 cwt. you mean the weight of the tra¬ 
velling carriage alone, without the weight of the passengers, or the weight 
of fuel or water? Yes, just so; I think it is possible to reduce the weight 
considerably as improvements go on. I have a carriage now building which 
I do not expect will weigh above five cwt., which I expected to do the 
work of about one horse, and carry two or three people; speed is a particu¬ 
lar object, and it is not intended to carry any thing more than light parcels. 

Into what stages would you divide your journeys most conveniently? I 
think about seven miles. 

What weight of fuel and water would you lay in for such a stage? The 
fuel and water will be in proportion to the size and power of the carriage. 

For a machine, weighing 35 cwt. marked by you No. 6, what weight of 
fuel and water would you require? Three bushels and a half of coke 
is the quantity we take to supply this distance, and the first charge two 
bushels; the first charge always remaining, it decreases of course down to 
the first charge, and, taking the mean, it will be 3|. The weight of water 
at present I think is about 10 gallons a mile which is consumed, that would 
be 70 gallons, a gallon weighing about 10 lbs. making 700 lbs.; the mean 
of this will give the quantity. If the roads are good it does not take so 
much, we can do with almost half the quantity; if the roads are bad we. 
must take the whole quantity? and the mean will be 350 lbs. 

3 


18 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Will you state the progressive alterations you have made in the diameter 
of your wheel, and the breadth of the tire? The diameter of the wheel 
has generally been the same, about five feet. 

What difference is there between the fore and hind wheels? About a 
foot in diameter difference; about the proportion of an ordinary carriage. 

The power is attached to the hind wheels? To the hind wheels only. 

Do the wheels follow in the same track? That is a matter of option. 

The committee understand that they do not in that which travels between 
Cheltenham and Gloucester? Perhaps that is the case there; it is a matter 
of convenience in some experiments. I have built them with three wheels 
only, one wheel in front, and in some, as in No. 3, with six wheels; my 
present carriage has only four. 

Do the hind wheels of your present carriage follow in the same track 
with the fore wheels? Yes; those carriages now building will do so; the 
hind wheels will be nearer to each other than in many others. 

What diameter do you propose to make the propelling wheels of your 
new carriage? I propose to have them about five feet. I would observe, 
that by taking a wheel of five feet diameter off the axle, and putting on one 
of two feet six, the engine would be multiplied double in its power, and 
lose of course one half in speed. In some cases it may be desirable to do 
so if the carriages are used for general purposes; for speed or dragging of 
heavy weights alternately, larger or smaller wheels may be put to meet 
circumstances as they occur. 

From the experiments you have made, with a view to proportion the di¬ 
ameter of the wheels with the weight to be drawn and the velocity required, 
what diameter of propelling wheel do you think will be generally used? 
Five feet; the piston of the engine should not travel more than two miles 
and a half per hour; therefore we may multiply from this rate to any speed 
we please. 

What is the breadth of the tire of your present wheel? None less than 
two inches; but in late experiments we found a wide tire more desirable 
lhan a narrow one, and we have increased it to about three inches and a half 
in width; we found that there is no increase of power necessary with a wide 
wheel, but I think, on the contrary, rather less. We have not been able to 
decide positively the true variation in power, but the difference is so slight., 
that it is not perceptible. 

What is the ordinary width of the tire of wheels of coaches? I think 
about two inches; in a private carriage rather under two, and in stage 
coaches over two inches. 

Of how many horse power is your ordinary travelling engine? Twelve 
nominal steam engine horse-power; to work eight hours it takes the com¬ 
mon stage coach 32 horses; an engine propelling the same weight for eight 
hours should be considered a 32 horse power, according to the rule laid 
down by engineers, but this is not true as to locomotive engines. 

Taking your latest improvement, to what number of draught horses would 
it be equivalent? I think about 10 cwt. will do the work of a horse on the 
road; 35 cwt. will be about 3£ horses’ work always. 

You mean that it will displace about three horses and a half at a time on 
the road? Yes, in each stage it will displace 3£ or 4 horses, and about 3C 
horses in the eight hours. 

Is that in practice, or in idea? Practice. 

Is the chief weight supported on springs? The whole is on springs 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 19 

What is the weight of an ordinary stage-coach? About 24 cwt.; I think 
from 18 to 24 . 

How many persons will that take? I think about 18. 

What would be the weight of your engine carriage sufficiently powerful 
to draw a carriage containing 18 persons? The weight of the propelling 
carriage would be about the weight of four horses; the weight of the car¬ 
riage drawn would be precisely that of a carriage drawn by horses, and I find 
the weight of a horse to average about 10 cwt.; therefore, taking four horses 
at 10 cwt the four horses would be two tons, which is somewhere about the 
weight of my carriage; to do the same work, some horses weigh as much as 
16 cwt some considerably less than 10 cwt. 

Have you examined the effect on the roads of the propelling wheels of 
your carriage? As far as I am enabled to judge, 1 should say that they did 
no more injury than any other carriage of the same weight; I mean the 
carriage itself, weight for weight I have taken the loss of iron from the 
tires of the wheels, and compared it with that of the loss from other carriages 
running the same number of miles, and I found the loss the same nearly. 

Do you find that the wheel never slides in the turn? If it does, it is either 
imperfect or the fault of the engineer; if the steam is wire-drawn (using the 
technical term) it never does so; if the steam is laid on suddenly on the en¬ 
gines, it acts like a percussion, and affects the wheels as if struck with a 
hammer. The carriage, of course, would not be propelled in such case. 

Practically, as far as you have seen in the operations of these carriages, 
does the wheel slide in that way frequently? It may sometimes at starting for 
an instant, but never on the road unless it is over-weighted; I mean, if it has 
an over-weight attached to it. 

Is there much smoke created by your carriage ? There is no smoke unless 
any smoky matter gets accidentally into the fire, the fuel being coke; of 
course there will be smoke if there are coals. 

Are you frequently obliged to let off steam? Yes, but not openly; the 
steam is allowed to escape from the safety-valve into a chamber peculiarly 
constructed, which prevents any nuisance from it. 

There is no annoyance either from smoke or steam? There is no annoy¬ 
ance either from smoke or steam, when the engine is perfect. 

Have you found that horses are more liable to be frightened by passing 
your carriages, than passing other carriages? As far as my own observation 
goes, I should say about the same. I have travelled with a carriage, I think, 
five years, more or less, every week. I have been very frequently in the 
public streets of London with the steam carriage, and the roads round Lon¬ 
don, and also in the private and public roads in the country; I have cer¬ 
tainly seen horses shy often, but never saw a horse make a dead stand. 

Is there a very peculiar noise attending the motion of your engine car¬ 
riage? The noise of wire-drawing, &c. is at the will of the engineer; if the 
carriage should make a noise, he has the means of stopping the noise; but 
there ought not to be any disagreeable noise. 

Must not the noise proceed from the imperfection of the works? Yes, 
and that only. 

Do you attribute the startling of horses to the peculiar noise of the en¬ 
gine, or to its unusual appearance? I think it must be from its unusual appear¬ 
ance. It appears from an observation on the carriages at Cheltenham, made 
in this committee, to have been more troublesome than any where else. 
Those carriages were made with curtains, to inclose persons who might ride 


m 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

In them, and the carriage altogether rather more outre in its appearance; 
Crom the flapping of those curtains, or some circumstances of that kind, the 
horses have been startled, or accidents have occurred there. 

Are you aware that there is an imperfection in the carriage at Cheltenham, 
which is stated to occasion noise? I have not seen much of these carriages; 
I was never at Cheltenham but twice or thrice, and then but for a short time. 

What have you found to be the effect of the wheels on a very rough road 
full of ruts? If you start the carriage from a rut, it takes more power; but 
when the carriage is in motion, the momentum takes it over all the inequali¬ 
ties with the usual force. 

Do you find that when the propelling wheel gets into a rut, the first 
power it exerts is in sliding? Frequently; and sometimes it will be neces¬ 
sary to attach the two wheels, for one wheel will not be sufficient to get it 
out of that difficulty The engineer, in such case, attaches a second wheel by 
the bolt, and I have never known a situation yet, in which a carriage with 
both wheels attached will not get out. I have seen it. in a clay pit eight 
inches deep propel itself through, having sunk through the upper surface of 
gravel in a yard. 

When you attach the second wheel, is the increased power owing to the 
more favorable situation of the cranks? The power of the engine remains the 
same, but the application of it is doubled by friction. 

Suppose that both wheels were in the rut? j have seen both wheels in a 
rut. In the case I have just spoken of they were both in a rut; in a differ¬ 
ent state of weather, the effect, hold or bite on the wheels is very different; 
if the state of the road is between half wet and half dry, it is more apt to 
slide; and, in some instances, with a heavy weight attached, we are obliged to 
go with both wheels locked, when the same weight would have been taken 
by one wheel only in very wet or dry weather. 

is it only in starting that that difficulty occurs? Only in starting on a 
level or slight incline; but uphills we have sometimes been obliged to attach 
both wheels; the bite only from the one wheel being not sufficient to pro¬ 
pel a load behind it. 

What is the operation of the propelling wheel when it meets with the 
obstruction of a large stone on the road? If the difficulty is so great that the 
carriage cannot advance, it slips on the stone; but I have blocked up the 
wheels of the carriage with square pieces of wood four inches in diameter, 
and started it when so blocked up. 

In proportion to the size of such obstruction there is liability in the crank 
to break? Certainly; but the cause which occasions a crank to break is one 
which cannot be explained on common principles: it frequently happens, as 
in steam-boats, and very often in this carriage, when the power applied to 
it is not equal to its being broken, the accident occurs, and must be referred 
to a jar or percussion; the axles are unusually large in consequence. 

What is the throw of the crank? Half the diameter of the stroke of the 
engine; eight inches and a half to nine inches. 

With a wheel of five feet diameter what is the throw of your crank? About 
nine inches. 

What is the length of the stroke of your cylinder? I think 16 to 18 inch¬ 
es; the crank is half that. I may state here, that I have had accidents of 
breaking the crank two or three times during my experiments: thelast crank 
was broken in consequence of going through some rough stones laid unusu¬ 
ally thick; I understand as much as 18 inches deep. 


21 


[ Doc, No. 101. ] 

What do you anticipate will be the most frequent accident which will hap¬ 
pen to your drawing machines? I should say the derangement of the pumps 
is most likely to occur, in consequence of which the carriage would merely 
stop. 

During the experiments you have been making, have you frequently had 
your tubes burst? Very often 

Do you conceive you have remedied the probability of such occurrence? 
Yes; the first tubes we used were iron gas tubes, which were not welded, 
but simply 64 butted” together. The consequence was, that whenever any 
great pressure came upon them the seam opened; but from practice and ex¬ 
perience we found it necessary to wrap over, or over lap the edges, and weld 
them from end to end; and now we are not subject to those accidents. 

What is the diameter of the tubes of your boiler? We make th m from 
half an inch to two inches; the best size, 1 think, is an inch diameter. 

To what pressure per square inch do you prove them? To about 800 lbs.; 
I think they would bear 2,000 lbs. 

What is the greatest pressure they would bear? It is impossible to say. 

I have never been able to burst one when well made, when lapped and 
welded. 

What is the average pressure on the boiler per square inch, in your ordi¬ 
nary rate of travelling? About 70 lbs. 

And you have tried the tubes to 800? Yes; we sometimes may work up 
to 100 lbs. and 120 lbs.; but that is a case of great emergency. 

What is the greatest probable pressure it will be exposed to? Nevermore 
than 130 lbs.; the safety valve blows at 70 lbs. to the inch; ic is generally 
on the lift on a level hard road. I do not think that the pressure is more than 
20 lbs. to an inch on the piston. 

Is it likely that persons would ordinarily work with the safety valve on 
the lift? Yes; or nearly so, sometimes. 

Is there not a waste of fuel when you work on the lift? It will be in pro¬ 
portion to the escape of steam from the safety-valve; the pressure on the 
boiler is 70 lbs.; on the engine frequently it does not exceed 20 lbs. to an 
inch; and when I was asked the pressure I worked at, I supposed the ques¬ 
tion referred to the pressure on the piston collectively. 

What is the thickness of your tubes? The thickness of the iron is about 
the eighth of an inch. 

What is the thickness of your working cylinder? It is about three quar¬ 
ters of an inch; it has also ribs round it. 

Of what metal is your working cylinder formed? Cast-iron; we have 
worked gun metal, but cast-iron appears to be best. 

Have you found that there is great facility in guiding those carriages? I 
have always found the most perfect command in guiding them. 

Supposing you were going at your ordinary rate of eight miles an hour, 
could you stop immediately, or would the carriage run for any distance? 
In case of emergency, we might instantly throw the steam on the reverse 
side of the pistons, and stop within a few yards. The stop of the carriage is 
singular; it would be supposed that the momentum would carry it far for¬ 
ward, but it is not so; the steam brings it up gradually and safely, though 
rather suddenly. 

Supposing you were going at the rate of eight miles an hour, can you say 
at what number of yards it would be possible to stop? I would say within 
six or seven yards. 


22 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

How would you manage on a declivity? On a declivity we are well stored 
with apparatus; we have three different modes of dragging the carriage. 

You have stated that you found no difficulty in guiding the drawing carriage, 
or any difficulty in guiding the carriage which is drawn? Not the least; it 
is peculiarly connected, so that the fore wheels of the carriage drawn fol¬ 
low the tracks ot the hind-wheels of the steam carriage drawing, although 
making a circle of 15 feet diameter, which is a singular property. 

In what circle do you think you could turn both carriages? In a circle 
of 10 feet, the inner diameter. 

Supposing you were going at the rate of eight miles an hour, in what inner 
circle do you suppose you could turn? I should be very sorry to attempt to 
turn within a small circle. I think I might say, probably it might safely be 
done in one of 100 feet diameter. 

In the further progress of the improvement of this description of carriage, 
do you suppose that greater weight will be drawn, by adding to the number 
of carriages; or by increasing the size of the one carriage drawn? The 
carriage drawn with its load, should never exceed three tons, and the car¬ 
riage to draw it should never exceed the weight I have previously stated, 
about two tons or 50 cwt; it is possible to draw more than one carriage on 
good roads, but I do not think it would be a circumstance of common occur¬ 
rence. 

What have the chief inconveniences been that you have met with on your 
journies? The principal inconveniences we have met with have been minor 
derangements of some parts of the machinery, such as the valves of the pump 
being deranged, or tanks leaking, or something of that kind. I never met 
with any serious accident, except perhaps the first accident in going up 
Highgate Hill, which was five years ago. The carriage wasnot then com¬ 
plete in referrence to dragging; I went up the hill contrary to the expecta¬ 
tions of every body present, and the workmen were so delighted at it that 
they neglected to lock the wheel; the carriage was started down the hill 
without any drag to it; it became difficultly manageable, and ran against a 
stone, and was upset. This is the only accident I have ever experienced 
myself. I believe Sir Charles Dance onceupset the carriage in a first essay.. 
Those are the only accidents of the kind I am aware of. 

It has been stated that one of your engines has blown up at Cheltenham; 
is that the case? I am not aware of that; I rather believe that the lifting of 
the safety-valve when the carriage stops is considered to be a bursting, which 
I think must be so in this statement. I saw the carriages the day after the 
accident of the crank breaking, where it is stated to have burst, and certain¬ 
ly the carriage had not blown up then; nothing more than the safety-valve 
had lifted. I came to Cheltenham the day after the accident occurred. 

What was the nature of the accident which occurred? The breaking of 
one of the cranks, occasioned by the extra difficulty the carriage was placed 
in; new stones were laid in a hollow of the road, I am told about 18 inches 
deep; the carriage had gone through it twice with twenty passengers; the 
third time it fractured the axle, from the extra force necessary to get it 
through; the road was in an unusual state; I saw the passengers of a four- 
horse coach get down in the stones. I was told at the time, by people of great 
respectability, that all the two horse coaches invariably put down their pas¬ 
sengers; that the mail was stopped; that there were two wagons and two 
coaches in the stones stopped at the same time, and that they were obliged 
to exchange their horses to get through. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 23 

Has any other accident occurred to that carriage except that you have 
now stated? Nothing that I am aware of material. 

Have the wheels of your carriages frequently caught fire? Never; I saw 
the three carriages the day after the accident; neither one had taken fire. I 
am sorry such an idea should for a moment exist: I think it has been occa¬ 
sioned by misconception or prejudiced mis statements. 

Is the construction of your boiler and of your fire-place such, that it is 
impossible for the carriage to catch fire? I believe it to be impossible. 

You have stated that you require to charge your engine once in seven 
miles? Yes; to charge the tank with water, and to take fresh fuel. 

Do you anticipate, in the course of your experience, that you would be able 
to overcome that inconvenience of being obliged to charge so frequently? 
We can now go double the distance; but we should have a weight of water 
and a weight of fuel, a greater expense to carry than if we take in one charge 
at seven mile stages. 

Are the wheels you ordinarily travel with four inches wide on the tire? 
From three and a half to four inches. 

Have you any information to give to the committee in relation to the re¬ 
lative wear of the tire of wheels and the shoes of horses? That is a new horse 
shoe [producing one,'] and this is a shoe of the same size, worn on the 
streets of London nine days: the shoe has lost about 18 ounces. 

Have you any means of ascertaining how many hours a day it had been 
out? The horse ran in a cab; it was out a certain number of hours, I think, 
three or four hours each day; the smith was taking off the shoe which had 
been worn, and putting on the other, when I asked him to let me have them. 
The difference between the wear and tear of tires and horse shoes on the 
roads in the neighbourhood of London are in the proportions of about three- 
fourths on the shoes, and one-fourth on the tires; but in London, over the 
streets, about seven-eighths and one-eighth. I would observe that on rail¬ 
roads, where horses draw the carriages, the expense of keeping the horse 
roads is so great, that the proprietors frequently go to a great expense to 
pave them. From Cheltenham to Gloucester, for instance, and in many 
other parts of England, this is the case. I would also call the attention of 
the committee to some parts of London, where the horses and the wheels 
continue to pass over the same ground respectively, as in Wych-street; and 
l would submit the importance of the committee referring to the expense of 
keeping the towing-paths of canals in repair, where only horses, and com¬ 
paratively few, travel over them. At this moment, those are the only means 
enabling me to speak to the relative wear and tear. 

Have you used your carriages on pavements? Yes; never to run continu¬ 
ally on a pavement, but to run in and out of towns. 

Do they run easier on pavements than on ordinary roads? Yes; they on¬ 
ly take about a quarter the power on a pitched pavement, that is, a quar¬ 
ter of the power they would over a gravelled road. 

In the progress of this improvement, do you anticipate that it will be ne¬ 
cessary to adapt some portion of the turnpike roads to carriages of this de¬ 
scription, or do you think they can be put into operation on the turnpike 
roads as they are now existing? I think they can be put into operation on 
the turnpike roads as they are now existing; I have no doubt at all about it. 

You do not anticipate the necessity of paved roads being made for the 
purposes of those carriages? As far as economy goes, in the expense of 
power, it may be desirable; but for the practical application of the steam 
it is not necessary. 


24 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

Can any proportion be drawn between the friction occasioned by the horses 
feet and the tire of ihe wheel? I do not. see how it is possible to do so, un¬ 
less you take the loss or abrasion of the two metals respectively, in a given 
quantity of work or miles travelled over. 

Have you any practical experience in the repair of turnpike roads? I have 
had my attention turned to it, connected only with this subject. I have seen 
the great expense of keeping towing-paths and horse-paths in repair; and I 
have seen the great expense of keeping the streets in repair, where horses 
alone travel; and I have seen the great wear and tear of iron shoes, when 
compared with the wheels of carriages. 

Have you any plan to submit for fixing the tolls on steam carriages? 
The plan I should propose would be, if I may be allowed the term, that an 
iron horse of the same weight as one of flesh and bones should pay the same 
toll; and taking one horse to weigh 10 cwt., that for every 10 cwt. the steam 
carriage weighs, it it should pay the same toll as one horse pays; although I 
do not admit that the same weight carried on four wheels will do as much 
mischief as on four hoofs. If we take the turnpike acts, and look at the 
comparative rate of tolls charged when a horse is drawing, and when he is 
not drawing, 1 shall be, I conceive, borne out in my position. 

Can you point to any clause in private bills which press more than you 
conceive they should on steam carriages? There is one, the Liverpool and 
Prescot road bill, this session, charging a toll per horsepower, which it is 
difficult to determine. My objection to that is, that if the horse-power is taken 
as the nominal engine horse-power, a steam coach would have to pay 2l. 
35. where a stage coach pays only 45. a toll. The next is the Bathgate, near 
Edinburgh road, where the tolls are on weight, and an engine of three tons 
(about the usual weight of a loaded four-horse stage-coach), would have to 
pay 1/. 7s. Id., when four horses would have to pay 5s. The next is the 
Ashburn and Totness road bill, where 2/. would be charged on the steam 
carriage and the carriage attached, being 5s. on each wheel; four horses, at 
the same time, would have to pay 35. The next is the Teignmouth and 
Dawlish roads: they are in the proportion of 25. and 125. 

What is the most favorable instance to steam carriages? The Metropo¬ 
lis roads, near London, charge 15. for four horses, and 2s. for the steam car¬ 
riage and the one drawn. I complain of that because it limits me to a particu¬ 
lar kind of carriage. I am building one which will not weigh more than 5 
cwt. and carry only two or three persons, and it would be excessive to have 
to pay 25. There is no reduction if it is no bigger than a wheelbarrow; being 
propelled by machinery, it will be charged double. 

How many private bills have been introduced this session in which steam 
carriages have been specially taxed? I have fifty-four, which I now pro-, 
duce. I understand there are others. 

Have any of them passed into a law? Yes, some of them have. 

In your opinion, what proportion of the tolls should horses and carriages 
be chargeable with? Taking the average of the amount of tolls throughout 
the country, it will be lound that where a horse pays a penny not drawing, 
he pays about three-pence when he is drawing. In that case, the toll upon the 
coach is nominally put upon the horse (it says, so many horses drawing): four 
horses drawing will be a shilling; four horses passing through, not drawing, 
will be four-pence; in some cases it is three half-pence a horse when not 
drawing, and sixpence when drawing; but in general the proportions appear 
to be, three-eighths the toll placed upon the horse, and five-eighths upon the 


25 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

carriage; three half-pence a horse not drawing, and sixpence drawing, gives 
three fourths; but the mean is about three-eighths and five-eighths; so that 
the toll is virtually about five-eighths on the carriage, and three eighths on 
the horse. I have previously stated that I have had horses weighed, and 
found the average about 10 cwt. each horse; therefore, if a steam engine 
weighs 10 cwt. it should pay only as one horse when it passes through not 
drawing, and as one horse drawing when it has any thing attached to it. A 10 
cwt. steam engine cannot propel more than one horse can draw; therefore 
the weight drawn cannot exceed a certain quantity. If the weight of the 
engine exceeds 10 cwt. and not twenty, it should pay as two horses; if it 
exceeds 20 and not 30, it should pay as three horses; if 30 cwt. and not ex¬ 
ceeding 40, it should pay as four horses, and so on. 

Practically horses drawing frequently draw a weight of 30 cwt.? Yes, 
sometimes, but 15 cwt. a horse is the usual weight. I have always felt a 
great anxiety that the weight of the steam engine should not injure the road, 
and I have felt desirous of not introducing it until it was reduced; and I now 
cheerfully admit, that if the weight of the locomotive exceeded 60 cwt., 
which is the weight of the present loaded stage coaches, with the passengers 
and their luggage, there should be a very heavy toll put on them. I would 
also propose that if my wheels are wider than four inches, the tolls should be 
less; if they are six inches, then they should be still less; but taking the prin¬ 
ciple of 10 cwt. of iron and copper to do the work of one horse, and that it 
should pay the same tolls, and that no weight of steam carriage should be 
admitted above 60 cwt. on the road, I certainly should myself be content, 
and as I cannot for a moment imagine that the 10 cwt. running on four wheels 
can do so much harm as 10 cwt. carried on four feet, that the interests of 
turnpike trusts would be fairly preserved by such a scale of tolls. 

What is the amount of toll charged between Gloucester and Cheltenham? 
Five shillings and sixpence. 

What would be charged on a four-horse coach? Two shillings and eight- 
pence. 

Your steam carriage, according to the last improvement, weighs 35 cwt. 
without the weight of persons to direct it? Yes, and without the weight of 
the fuel. 

Do you not consider that the steam carriages would be applicable not on¬ 
ly to the moving carriages at a rapid rate, but also to moving certain weights 
at a slower pace? I think it is possible, but it would be very expensive, be¬ 
cause I find that when you get below a rate of four miles an hour, the ex¬ 
pense in fuel is greater than the expense in horses; if the rate exceeds four 
miles an hour, then it is cheaper, and it becomes cheaper geometrically over 
horses as you get up. 

What is the greatest weight which you conceive your steam carriages 
could draw after them on a level road at the rate of four miles an hour, the 
carriage weighing two tons? Every 10 cwt. in the engine would draw 
what one horse could draw, so that two tons would draw as much as four 
horses. 

Will the rate of tolls you have remarked in the bills you have produced, 
prohibit the use of steam coaches on these roads? Certainly. 

What do you calculate to be the comparative expense of running a steam 
carriage and running a coach with four horses? That varies in different situ¬ 
ations, according to the price of coke and the price of labor. It is in all cases 
considerably less, at least one-half less. 

4 


26 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

You anticipate that the principal use of steam carriages will be the con¬ 
veyance of passengers, and at one half of the expense at which they travel 
*iow? Yes; and in less time. 

Can you deliver in to the committee a detailed estimate of the expense of 
running a steam coach, and one of running an ordinary coach? Yes, I 
will prepare them. 

At what rate do you suppose it would be safe to run steam carriages oa 
the public roads? I have run them safely eighteen and twenty miles an hour; 
but twelve miles an hour is perfectly safe and practicable. The rate will be de¬ 
termined by practice principally: in directing the carnage at present there is 
no difficulty or danger in guiding the carriage at this rate. 

Would there not be danger in passing a carriage drawn by horses? If the 
engineer was careless it might be, but not with care; a mail-coach travels far 
beyond that at times. 

You make your wheels cylindrical? They must be cylindrical, for they 
turn with the axles. 

None of yours are less than three inches now? No; three inches to three 
and a half, even where the carriage weighs two tons weight 


Veneris , 5° die Augusti , 1831. 

Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney , again called in, and examined. 

Will you give in the statement that you were directed to produce on 
the last examination? I will. 

[The witness delivered in the same.] 

Calculation as the relative expense betwixt Horse and Steam Power 
for Locomotion . 

In order to estimate the comparative expense between horse and steam 
nower lor drawing carriages on common roads, I will take the relative ex¬ 
pense on lOOmiies of ground for working a common stage coach by steam 
and by horses . 

The first cost, wear and tear of the coach drawn, in every respect, is the 
same in both cases. 

The expense of men to manage is about the same also. In one case there 
is a coachman and guard; in the other, an engineer and director. 

Government duty and turnpike tolls must also be considered the same. 

It remains then to show the difference in the expense of power only, viz. 
betwixt the expense of horses and the expense of steam. First in the* out¬ 
lay, on 100 miles of gound. To work a coach well with horses 100 miles 
up and 100 miles down once a day, will require 100 horses. A horse a mile 
is the present calculation for doing the work. If these horses be taken at 
^20 or £ 30 per horse, or say £25, it will amount to £2,500. Three 
steam carriages will do the same work, and the expense of these will be 
about £ 500 each, or £ 1,500 for the three. A saving will consequently be 
effected m the first outlay of ^T,000 in capital. 

The wear and tear of horses may be estimated at about £ 5 each per an¬ 
num on the 100 horses, viz. £ 500 per annum. 



27 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The wear and tear of three steam towing carriages will not exceed £ 100 
each per annum; £ 300 for the three;—saving in wear and tear, £ 200. 

The expense of shoeing, keep, provision, attendance, harness, &c. is per 
day somewhere about 3s. each or £ 15 upon the 100 horses. 

The expense of fuel for two carriages, one up and the other down, doing 
the same work, will be that of 100 bushels of coke at 3d. per bushel; say 
£ 2 . 10 . 

Or if we take Is. per mile per horse power, it will be about the same. 
The expense of fuel for the steam carriage will be, on an average through¬ 
out England, about 3d. In some coal districts it will not exceed Id. per 
mile; while in other situation it will amount to 3d. 

I have not taken into this estimate the expense of stables which is consid¬ 
erable when compared with sheds for coke and water. 

From these data, I conclude the carriage may be worked by steam at one- 
fifth the expense of horses. 


Abstract. 


Horse power. 

£. s. d. 

Steam power. 

£. s. d. 

Outlay for horses 

2,500 0 0 

Outlay for steam carriages - 

1,500 0 0 



Balance of saving in the outlay 




in favor of steam power 

1,000 0 0 

Wear and tear of horses, per 


Wear and tear of steam tow¬ 


annum - 

500 0 0 

ing carriages, 

300 0 0 



Balance, saving in tear and 




wear in favor of steam pow¬ 




er - 

200 0 0 

Shoeing, keep, attendance, pro¬ 


Fuel for steam carriages, half 


vision, harness, &c., per day, 


bushel per mile travelled, at 


for 100 horses 

15 0 0 

6d. per bushel 

2 10 0 



Balance, saving 

12 10 0 


Have you any additional evidence to give to the committee, on points 
which you have considered after your last examination? I have no further 
evidence in connection with the practicability of the carriage. 

Would you wish to explain your former evidence, or to give any addition¬ 
al evidence upon the subject? On looking over the evidence, I find it cor¬ 
rect. I should observe, in explanation, that at 3s. a day I have taken in the 
wear and tear of the horses, and the attendance, and the fuel. 

How long are your boilers calculated to last? About three years fair 
treatment. 

How frequently do they require examination? Once a fortmghtor three 
weeks: it depends on the situations where they work. In some situations 
where lime is held in solution in the water in large quantities, they require 
cleaning oftener, but in other situations, where there is very little earthy 
matter held in solution, they will run for a month or two months. 

Is there a facility of cleaning them? There is, from recent improvements 

in cleaning, very great facility. . . , n , , 

Is there any expense attendant on the operation of cleaning? One day s 
work of a laborer, their not requiring an engineer. 















2S 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

You have stated in your former evidence that it would he unjust to put a 
toll on steam carriages according to the nominal horse power of the en¬ 
gines; will you state why it would be unjust to put a toll in that way? Be¬ 
cause I conceive at present there is no standard by which we can fix a horse 
power. 

Will you state to the committee the variations of rate at which the differ¬ 
ent engineers have calculated horse power? The most generally received 
standard is 180 pounds at two miles an hour—say from 150 to 200. 

Could there be any fair system of toll established by the length of stroke 
and the area of the piston? I think not; the length of stroke and the area of 
piston will give power in proportion to the pressure of the steam upon it; 
the apparatus for supplying dr generating the necessary steam would vary 
considerably in weight in different engines; and therefore the weight of 
different engines would vary so much perhaps as three times or four times. 

Would there be any objection to placing toll on an engine according to 
its greatest power of working? I think it would be very difficult to ascer¬ 
tain its greatest power of working; it might be done, but it would be very 
inconvenient. 

Are there no means of ascertaining the average power of working? Horse¬ 
power is very arbitrary; the best standard which I can give, is the evapora¬ 
tion of water, and I should say that the evaporation of nine gallons of water 
in an hour, ought to be equivalent to one horse power. One engineer will 
apply the steam with more effect from nine gallons of water, and with more 
general advantage than another: nine gallons may be taken as an average. 

What is the diameter of your cylinder, and what the length of stroke? I 
believe I have given the length of stroke in my former evidence, but not the 
diameter of the cylinder. The diameter of the cylinder now used is about 
eight inches, offering 64 circular inches area on the piston. 

Is there not on those engines an average rate of expenditure, not speaking 
with mathematical certainty; is there not the means of calculating pretty 
well the expenditure necessary to work them? The expense of fuel for work¬ 
ing them is well ascertained. 

Having ascertained that it will evaporate nine gallons of water in an hour, 
you come pretty nearly to the expenditure of one horse power? It does not 
follow in all cases that one horse power will be practically produced from 
nine gallons; and, on the other hand, I may state that I have seen a horse 
power produced from five and six gallons. 

At what pressure? It does not signify much at what pressure. 

You say that the evaporation of nine gallons of water is equal to one horse 
power; does it not make a difference according to the pressure? This is a 
point unsettled at present by engineers; some advocate high, others low 
pressure. 

You have stated that if you wished to increase the power of your engine 
you would increase the weight of it, and decrease the size of the wheels? It 
might be done either way: the union of the two is not necessary as far as re¬ 
gards the intensity of power: the quantity of power must be produced by an 
increase of weight, or by some increased or rapid formation of steam. 

What is the weight of a loaded wagon, with horses? At this moment I 
am not prepared to give an accurate answer, but I should think six tons. 

Does that include the weight of the horses? No. 

What should you judge to be the weight of the horse usually attached? 
From 14 to 16 cwt. each horse. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 29 

Would not you, by increasing the size of the cylinder, increase your 
power? Yes, in direct proportion with the increase of the area. 

What objection do you see to increasing the size of your cylinder, and ap¬ 
plying it to a large wagon, so as to use steam carriages for the mere carri¬ 
age of goods? I think the difficulty and objection lies in the management 
practically; it would be difficult in our present stage of knowledge and ex¬ 
perience to manage a large cylinder very rapidly on the road; but I see no 
other obstacle to great speed; there is no theoretical difficulty. I would 
wish to state, in connection with my former evidence with respect to fuel 
for working slowly heavy carriages, that my opinion was founded on some 
peculiar laws of momentum lately observed. It is well known that one en¬ 
gine, when worked at a given rate, works expansively; that an engine work¬ 
ing at a quicker rate, if a piston only travels half a mile an hour, or 50 feet 
a minute, it will require more fuel for it to do a given work, than if working 
at 200 feet a minute. 

Is not the momentum gained by greater velocity an accumulation of pow¬ 
er? I think the advantage gained by certain rapidity of action, arises from 
the inequalities of the road being overbalanced by the momentum of the 
carriage. When the carriage travels slowly, every inequality, every stone or 
slight obstacle partly destroys the momentum, but at a certain speed it over¬ 
comes them. There is no actual gain of power by momentum; it is only an 
accumulation very much like that in a common fly-wheel, and in a carriage 
on a common road: it acts on inequalties as a fly-wheel does in overcoming 
unequal obstacles in machinery. 

You use coke only? We occasionally may use charcoal, but very seldom. 

What is the proportion in price, and what in value, between coal and coke? 
I think one bushel of coals is equal in raising steam to two bushels of coke. 

What is the difference of price on the average? The difference of price 
is, I think, about two-thirds. 

Then there would be a loss, as compared together, in using coke? Coals 
would be much cheaper than coke, but that loss in the expense of fuel we 
are disposed to suffer rather than produce a nuisance on the road by smoke. 

Do you conceive that there can be no mode of escaping that by any smoke¬ 
consuming apparatus? I know of no mode that is likely to succeed, nor do 
I conceive that it is possible to make such a combustion of coals that is like¬ 
ly to consume all the sublimated or volatilized matter: the consuming of 
smoke or the combustion of smoke is prevented principally by the parti¬ 
cles being mechanically mixed with, or surrounded by, carbonic acid gas. I 
believe it not to be chemically combined. 

Would not the motion of the carriage and the current of air that is pro¬ 
duced by going quickly through the air, give great facility in the application 
of a smoke-consuming apparatus? If the consumption of smoke depended on 
the presence of oxygen gas or atmospheric air which contains it, I think it 
would; but on my previous reasoning, I do not think the consumption of 
smoke would be effected by any quantity of atmospheric air. I have made^ 
several very extensive experiments on this subject, and the only experimen 
that I have succeeded in, was by passing it through sand mixed with quick 
lime, by which the carbonic acid was obsorbed, and the smoke, as it passed 
through the mixture, rendered combustible; the carbonic acid was removed 
to a considerable extent, and left the carbonic oxyde and hydrogen gas in 
such a free state as to be combustible. 


30 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Of what materials are your propelling wheels? The same as a common 
stage coach wheel. 

Are the wheels of the carriage drawn nearly of equal diameter with the 
wheels of your drawing carriage? Rather less; the diameter of the wheels 
of the drawing carriage is about five feet, and the ordinary diameter of a 
stage coach that is drawn is about four feet six. 

From the experiments you have made, supposing the drawing carriage and * 
the carriage drawn were of equal weights, what do you think would be the 
different proportion of weight, on the wheels? None. 

Do you speak that with any certainty? Yes, I do. I have taken the loss 
of iron upon coaches after knowing the number of miles they had travelled 
over, and the loss of iron on the steam carriage, and the number of miles it 
had travelled over, and find that the loss in both cases bore the same pro¬ 
portion. 

Is coke alone used on the railways in the locomotive engines? On 
the Manchester and Liverpool railroad, I believe there is a clause in their 
act to prevent any nuisance being made by smoke, and coke is therefore 
used; but in the ordinary railroads in Wales and other places coal is used. 

In what part of your engine is your safety-valve situated? It is situated 
at the option of the engineer; frequently in the steam pipe leading from 
the boiler to the carriage, most generally; so that the steam as it passes 
through that pipe, may lift the safety-valve, or it may go to the engine, as 
the state of pressure shall determine. 

Do you make use of one or two safety-valves? Only one. I occasional¬ 
ly use two, but we now use only one. 

If your carriages were brought into general use, would you suggest that 
two safety-valves should be required, one out of the reach of the engineer 
to prevent accidents from occurring from racing, or other causes which could 
induce the guide to increase the pressure of steam? I should recommend 
one being locked, and an inspector being appointed to examine it every jour¬ 
ney. Perhaps I may be allowed to make an observation or tw T o with respect 
to thebursting of boilers, which subject, I believe, is now under consideration. 
From experiments which 1 have made in connection with this subject, I am 
led to believe that the bursting of boilers is not always occasioned by pres¬ 
sure of steam. I have discovered that, at a certain degree of temperature 
and under certain circumstances, when water is decomposed, that the hydro¬ 
gen is often formed into a new state of combination with oxygen and nitro¬ 
gen gas, which compound is exceedingly explosive; so much so, that I believe 
scarcely any provision that we can make in the shape of a safety-valve, would 
protect the vessel. This was a subject which I was led to some time ago, 
from some observations which I had made on the combinations of oxygen 
and hydrogen only. I had some conversation with Gay Lussac on this sub¬ 
ject, and he was of the same opinion with myself, particularly that there 
were different chemical compounds of hydrogen and oxygen gases which at 
present were not acknowledged. The only one acknowledged in this coun¬ 
try is that forming water. A compound of two proportions in volume of 
oxygen and two of hydrogen, has been chemically combined in Paris, al¬ 
though I believe we have never succeeded publicly in this country. This 
compound was highly explosive when brought in contact with certain sub¬ 
stances, 

It would be by expansion? By chemical contact; if brought into contact 
with certain substances, it would be affected as to produce explosion. I have 


31 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

reason to believe from some original experiments, that there is a compound 
of these elements produced under certain circumstances in steam boilers. 
The want of water in a boiler is favorable, in which case the temperature is 
raised and the compound formed; the bursting of boilers I believe frequent¬ 
ly takes place, from this compound coming in contact with substances that 
will decompose it, and perhaps I might mention this fact, as it is a very in¬ 
teresting one, namely, that boilers often burst when the vavles are known to 
blow at a pressure very considerably lower than the boiler has been proved 
to. 

Does not that take place also when the water is in the boiler? If the water 
is low in the boiler, it will take place; if it is high, never. 

Has it not frequently happened that boilers that were calculated for a high¬ 
er pressure, have even burst at a lower pressure than they were intended for 
when water is in them? When water is high in them, never; but when it is 
so low in them as to form this chemical compound, it does. I would state a 
fact which was mentioned to me by my friend Sir Anthony Carlisle, which 
throws considerable light upon the subject, and first led me to my suspicions 
and experiments respecting it. The case was, that a boiler at Mr. Meux’s 
brewery, with an open top—a common cauldron—burst with a violent ex¬ 
plosion. I believe one man was killed, and two very severely scalded. 
There was no cover at ail on the vessel. This phenomenon, upon inquiry, 
appeared to be occasioned by gelatinous matter, forming a crust, a film, or 
blister, and prevented the contact of water with the bottom of the boiler. The 
bottom of the boiler consequently got hot; the compound I alluded to was 
formed, or the rupture of this film, and the sudden contact of water against 
the hot surface below, produced such an immense and sudden volume of 
steam, that it burst the boiler. I would explain it by saying it was analogous 
to the bursting of a gun, in which case an ounce or two of shot is placed on¬ 
ly against the charge. Whenever there is a sudden formation of elastic matter 
and there be ever so small a weight opposed, the shock will be very great, 
and a gun will frequently burst, though there is not an ounce of shot in it, 
and which charge may be considered in the light of a safety-valve in this 
case. 

What precautions have you taken in your boilers, that there may be no 
probability of their being without water? This compound never forms with¬ 
out a certain raised temperature. Before this temperature, necessary for de¬ 
composition, takes place, it melts a fuseable compound alloy of metal, placed 
so as to allow of its escape. The matter formed escapes, and all danger is pre¬ 
vented. 

Have you any precaution to prevent the water escaping out of your nar¬ 
row tubes, by bubbles of steam? Yes; that I would explain by reference 
to the first drawing, (No. 1.) which will show that the bubble of water, as 
it escapes from a tube in connection with a part of the boiler, is supplied 
simultaneously from the lower part of the tube, and a stream of water is thus 
made constantly to pass through. 

Would not that stream of water act as a safety-valve? When there is 
water, it is sufficient, but when water gets down in any boiler, there is no 
safety-valve that will protect it, and hence arise the inexplicable accidents 
that have occurred frequently in steamboats; the size of the boiler is the on¬ 
ly protection without the safety alloy. 

Have you any guage, or means of ascertaining when there is a defiency of 
water in the boiler? Yes; the melting of the safety plug, I would state, on 


32 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ly takes place in cases of great negligence, or in cases of extremity. The 
guage by which we ascertain the quantity of water in the boiler, is the com¬ 
mon glass guage, well known to those acquainted with the subject. 

Have you any guage to examine the intensity of the steam? Yes, we have 
a piston which is forced out in proportion to the pressure; in addition to the 
glass guages, there are also stop cocks, so as to ascertain, by turning them, 
the actual height of water. I beg to state, that the safety plug has never, # 
but four or five times, given way in all my experiments, and that has been 
in cases where we have been accidently out of water in our tanks; no per¬ 
sonal mischief can arise from such an accident. I am satisfied, without this 
plug, an explosion would have taken place in some of the tubes. In large 
boilers, under these circumstances, inevitable destruction would have atten¬ 
ded it. 

Are you aware of the size of the cylinders and stroke of the engines on 
the Manchester and Liverpool railroad? I believe them to be ten inches 
diameter, and about fourteen inches stroke. In some of the later engines, I 
believe they have been made of fourteen inches diameter, the stroke being 
the same; but I rather think that that size has been given up, and that they 
have returned again to the ten inches diameter. 

What is th^ greatest weight, in proportion to its own weight, which any 
carriage draws on a railroad? A carriage was originally supposed to draw 
only three times its own weight on a railroad; but in some experiments 
which I made in Wales with Mr. Crawshay, of Cwrfaithfa Castle, we found 
in an experiment, that a carriage draws thirty times its own weight. He 
has the minutes which we made upon the occasion; but I believe, in prac¬ 
tice, they scarcely exceed five times, or from five to ten. 

You have stated that in your carriages you do not anticipate drawing 
more than the weight of the engine? Practically, on the common road, 
weight for weight. I explained, in my former evidence, that it was possible 
to do more under favorable circumstances; but circumstances vary so much 
on the common road, that we ought not to calculate on doing more than 
weight for weight. 

The diameter of your steam-wheel is rather greater than the diameter of 
a carriage-wheel? Yes, the size of the wheel I proportion to the engine, so 
that the piston may work under the most favorable circumstances. 

It is by experiment simply that you have arrived at your present size of 
cylinder? Yes. 

You stated in your former evidence, that you anticipated that passengers 
would be carried at one-half the rate by your steam carriages that they are 
by the common carriages; what difference in the ordinary expenses of car¬ 
riage would it make if you had a paved road for this purpose? 1 think that 
it would reduce the expense to one-half again. 

If there were properly paved roads, you conceive that passengers might be 
carried at one-fourth the present expense? Not exactly; because the total ex¬ 
pense includes the government duty, tolls, &c. as the same; but as far as the 
steam-power is concerned they would. These subjects have been inquired 
into by a mathematical friend of mine, and he has published the result of his 
inquiries, which I will take the liberty of delivering in. 

\The witness delivered in the same.] 

You have stated that, in certain states of the road, you find increased diffi¬ 
culty than in other states? I have; and the difficulty arises from a mechani- 


33 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

cal application of the steam simply; namely, in consequence of the road he- 
ingin a greasy state, and the wheels therefore more easily slipping, and, un¬ 
der the circumstances, do not furnish so good a fulcrum for propelling. 

Have you ever watched the operation of your carriages in snow? I have; 

I have used them both on snow and on ice. On ice, a very little roughing 
of the wheels is necessary, in the same manner as you rough horses, and 
little power is sufficient to propel the carriage, because, under those circum¬ 
stances, the power to draw the weight is very considerably reduced, and 
therefore the full power of the engine is not necessary to be exerted; in 
deep snow, there certainly is great difficulty; but I have no doubtthat as the 
subject goes on improving, all those practical difficulties will be overcome. 

The difficulty would be greater in your carriage than in other carriages, 
would it not? I think not; I think the carriage might be so constructed as 
to remove the difficulty. 

Will you state effect of ice below, and snow above, upon the action of your 
carriages? I have had occasion, in two or three instances, to use the car¬ 
riage under those circumstances, with a view judging of the practical result 
of it; and I have not found any difficulty in its progress. The snow is press¬ 
ed strongly under the wheel, becomes almost immovable, and furnishes a good 
fulcrum for the wheel; a little preparation is only necessary, and a very little 
is sufficient to overcome any moderate obtsacle of that kind. May I be al¬ 
lowed to give in to the committee a scale of what I conceive to be an equita¬ 
ble toll on steam carriages? it is the same in principle as I gave in on my last 
examination, but is extended. 

[ The witness delivered in the same.] 

To what width could you extend the tire, without any inconvenience to 
the working of your carriage? At present I cannot say to what limit it may 
be carried, but six inches would be no inconvenience. 

Then your carriage would go with six inches tire? I think so; and, un¬ 
der certain circumstances, easier, where the crust of the road is hard. 

Would not that depend very much upon the road? It would; I would 
state general principles: I would submit to the consideration of the commit¬ 
tee, better to explain my meaning, that it frequently happens that a frost 
forms a crust sufficiently hard to support the weight of a carriage a ton 
weight, but that it breaks under one or two tons; the power required to draw 
two carriages respectively so circumstanced is so great, that I can give you 
no data for estimates off-hand; but it is evident, that the power of drawing a 
one ton carriage would be little compared with the proportion of power re¬ 
quired for drawing two. My answer to the question is, generally, as I find 
the public roads at this time. 

To what velocity could you increase your present rate of travelling with 
your engine? I have stated that the velocity is limited by practical experi¬ 
ence only; theoretically it is limited only by quantity of steam; 12 miles, I 
think, we might keep up steadily, and run with great safety. The extreme 
rate that we have run is between 20 and 30 miles an hour. I stated in my 
former evidence, that the carriage when upset by Sir Charles Dance, was, at 
that time, going at 18 miles an hour, but no injury happened either to the ma¬ 
chinery or the persons upon it: still I am of opinion that that speed might 
be maintained with perfect safety by a little experience in practical manage¬ 
ment. 


5 


34 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

What are the practical objections to going at that rate? I think the prin¬ 
cipal objections are want of real knowledge and experience: I have been so 
many times disappointed in what theoretically I had imagined true, that I 
am afraid to give a decided opinion on subjects not practically proved. 

Have you any thing further that you wish to state to the committee? I 
would state generally, in regard to the main improvements on steam engines, 
by which this country has been so much benefitted, and the prospects of ad¬ 
vantages arising from steam carriages, that they have almost always been in 
a direct ratio with that of removing of horses; that the great and splendid im¬ 
provements of Mr. Watt have generally been supposed to be principally con¬ 
nected with the separate condenser of the steam engine, and the saving of 
the fuel; but before Mr. Watt’s day, we could empty our mines of water in 
Cornwall, and we could do a variety of other simple work by the steam en¬ 
gine, and so far the improvement of Mr. Watt was simply with respect to 
the saving of fuel; but I consider that the great national advantage arising 
from Mr. Watt’s improvement, has been his application of the steam engine 
to machinery; and the extent of that advantage to the community has been in 
a direct proportion to the removal of horse power, a most unproductive la¬ 
borer, and a dead expense to the country. If this view of the subject be en¬ 
tertained, the application of steam to propelling carriages on common roads, 
will be as important above its application to machinery generally, as the 
number of horses employed in locomotion exceed those necessary to machi¬ 
nery, which bears no proportion with respect to each other. At Hounslow 
alone, there are, at this moment, upwards of 1,000 horses employed in stage 
coaches and posting. On the Paddington road, a distance of five miles only, 
there are upwards of 1,000 horses employed at this moment. Throughout 
Great Britain, it is almost impossible to say how many horses are employed, 
but I should perhaps be within bounds if I were to say millions, in posting 
and stage coaches. If it is possible to remove those horses by an elementary 
power, which I firmly believe is practicable, the national advantage must be 
in proportion to the nnmber of horses so removed; for if it is shown that one 
carriage horse can be removed from the road by the present state of steam 
carriages, I see no reason why every horse so employed should not be so re¬ 
moved. It has been decided that the consumption of a horse is equal to that 
necessary for eight individuals, so for every horse that is removed and is sup¬ 
plied by elementary power, we make way for the maintenance of eight indi¬ 
viduals. If it is possible to carry the idea so far, and I see no objection to 
it, to do the principal work of horses by steam, or if it can be done by ele¬ 
mentary power, the committee may imagine to what extent we may provide 
for our increasing population. I think we may do much by political laws and 
enactments, but natural laws will do more, and when pointed out by the fin¬ 
ger of Providence, may be made to provide for his wise dispensations. 1 firm¬ 
ly believe that the introduction of steam carriages will do more than any 
other thing for this country. I have always had this impression; I left an 
honorable and lucrative profession, in which I was extensively engaged, in 
order to attend to this subject, because I was convinced of its importance and 
practicability; I have always entertained the same idea as I do at present. 
Imperfections will exist in the machinery; but I conceive that the main points 
of difficulty have been removed by the experiments I have made, and that 
all those now remaining are practical difficulties, which will be removed by 
further experience; and if there is no cause opposed by the Legislature, or any 
other source, I will be bold to say, that, in five years, steam carriages will be 


35 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

generally employed throughout England. I have not hesitated, having 
these feelings, to devote all my time for the last six years to the subject, and 
am mentally recompensed by the present state of the subject. Private car¬ 
riages also will be used. Under this opinion, I have given directions for build¬ 
ing a small one. I expect it will go quicker, safer, more easily, and certainly 
more independently than a common carriage, because it does not need the 
food of a horse. 

Do you apprehend much decrease in the price of your engines? I do, and 
I also anticipate that steam will be supplanted by the use of other elementary 
power; but I do not think that will take place in our day. I think that 
steam will be generally introdueed, and that the pubic will feel the import 
tance of it; and that scientific men will be directed to examine and employ- 
in its stead other substances, and new compounds are continually turning up, 
and some will eventually be applied to mechanical purposes. 

Do you believe that there will be other ways of raising steam? I do not 
now speak of steam, but certain compounds. I do not specify any particular 
compound at this moment. I state those generally which are known to pro¬ 
duce power by chemical change: some peculiarly explosive and aeriform 
bodies for instance. I am informed that at present there are between 20 and 
40 different carriages building, or about to be built, by different persons, all 
of which have been occasioned principally by the decided journey which I 
took of 200 miles in 1829, and which convinced not only the public of its 
practicability, but also some of those very men who are now employed in 
this object, and who previously had laughed at the idea, and considered it 
chimerical. 

In what particular point of machinery does your patent consist? I have 
three patents, the first for the boiler, the second for the peculiar application 
of it, and the third for improvements that have been made since. 

Do you anticipate much saving of fuel in your future experiments? I do; 
I think the saving of fuel will be in proportion to the saving of water. 

That is, that there will be a saving from the better application of the fuel 
and boiler? Yes; and from the general improvements in machinery. For in¬ 
stance, it is an unsettled point at this moment whether a pressure of 20 lbs. 
to an inch, or 120 lbs. to an inch, is best. It is not yet decided, which time 
will decide. 

Do you cut off your steam, so as to work expansively? Yes, we generally 
work expansively. 

You have mentioned that various accidents had happened to the crank of 
the engine, which were not accounted for: have you in contemplation to ef¬ 
fect any change in the application of the power ? At present, I think the 
crank the most simple; in some of my first experiments I worked with a 
chain passing over two wheels from one to another; also by a rack and pin¬ 
ion, and various motions of that kind; but I think that nothing is equal to a* 
crank: ‘hat also is the opinion of others besides myself. Upon the Liver¬ 
pool railroad they first applied the power to the outside of the wheel, but 
they have come to my drawing (No. 3.) at last, and they now work by the 
crank on the axle: this practically confirms my opinion. There is one ob¬ 
servation which I would at this moment make in connection with my former 
evidence. I have been frequently asked, what would happen in case of an 
accident happening to the guide or director, in case he falls asleep, or in case 
he is disengaged from his seat? I have provided for all those casualties, dis¬ 
tant as they are, by making the valves of the engine only remain in gear 


36 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

when the guide is in his proper situation: the moment he is thrown off his 
seat, by accident or otherwise, the engine instantly stops. 

Does that depend upon the guide’s weight? No; it is by his foot he keeps 
the valves down, and the effect on the carriage when he takes it off is very 
singular. I merely mention that fact in connection with the practical detail 
and safety of the carriage. The same contrivance, by simply lifting the foot, 
prevents the carriage from running down hill too quickly, and we do not re¬ 
quire the complicated drags that were before used. 

Mr. Walter Hancock, called in, and examined. 

Are you the proprietor of a steam carriage running on a turnpike road? 
Yes. 

How long have you been running that steam carriage? I dare say about a 
twelve month this present coach, but I have been working for hire on the 
road only a month. 

Are you the inventor of that particular description of engine that you make 
use of? Yes. 

Will you state the progress which you have made in the improvement of 
your steam carriage? The principal improvement I consider is in the boiler; 
that of constructing the boiler much lighter than any that are now in use. 

Will you be kind enough to give a general outline of your plan? There 
are flat chambers which are placed side by side, the chambers being about 
two inches thick, and there is a space between each two inches; there are ten 
chambers, and there are ten flues, and under the flues there is six square feet 
of fire, which is the dimension of the boiler top and bottom. The chambers 
are filled from half full to two-thirds with water, and the other third is left 
for steam: there is a communication quite through the series of chambers top 
and bottom; this communication is formed by means of two large bolts, which 
screw all the chambers together; the bottom bolts the bottom part of the 
chambers, and the top bolts the top part of the chambers; and by releasing 
those bolts at any time at all the chambers fall apart, and by screwing them 
they are all made tight again. We have braces to fasten them; the steam is 
driven outfrom the centre of one of the flues, and the water is ejected from 
the pump at the bottom communication for the supply of water. 

Does the fire pass between the boxes, or does it pass through them? It 
passes only between them. 

There is no line of communication for the fire made between the boxes? 
Nothing more than the flue through which the fire passes; the sides of the 
boilers form the chimneys. 

Have you ascertained what pressure such boilers are equal to? I have 
pever gone beyond 400 lbs. on an inch. I have workedjt on a road at 400; 
the average pressure on an inch is from 60 to 100. 

At what pressure do you set your safety-valve? Taking the average of 
roads, I work at about 70 lbs. upon the square inch. 

You have calculated how may square feet of boiler? At the present car¬ 
riage, I have 100 square feet of boiler exposed to the fire. 

What distance do you run from stage to stage? What I consider the stages 
I have run is four miles; but every eight miles I take in water; I go there 
and back. 

You consider your stage eight miles? Yes. 

Do you take in both water and fuel at the end of a stage? Yes, at the end 
of every eight miles. 


37 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

What quantity of water and what quantity of fuel do you use for eaeh stage? 
About 7 cwt. of water, and sometimes eight; it depends upon the roads; we 
consume more steam when the roads run heavy. 

How much coal or coke do you use for each stage? About two bushels of 
coke. 

Do you mean that you take two bushels at the commencement of each 
stage? I take more with me, but I always consume a quarter of a bushel per 
mile. 

You do not in that include your first charge of coke when you set off? No, 
that would vary according to circumstances. If I were in a hurry, I could 
get the steam up in five minutes; but the average time is about twenty min¬ 
utes in getting up our steam, and we do not consume more than a bushel. 

That is at first starting? That is at first starting. 

Do you apply a second carriage to your engine for passengers, or do you 
carry them in the same carriage? The boiler is placed behind the carriage; 
there is an engine-house between the boiler and the carriage; the engines are 
placed perpendicular between the passengers and the boiler, and the fore 
part of the vehicle is for the passengers, so that all the machinery is quite 
behind the carriage, and the fore part of the carriage entirely for the con¬ 
venience of passengers. 

Where does the guide sit? In the front, the same exactly as a coachman 
in a common stage. 

How many passengers have you carried? We carry ten; but I am making 
provision to carry fourteen. 

What is the weight of your Vehicle? I should imagine about three tons 
and a half. 

Have you ever weighed it? Not this carriage, but the carriage I had be¬ 
fore, the vehicle itself with the engines and boilers, weighed three tons. I 
consider the present carriage to weigh from three tons to three and half 
tons, with fuel and water. 

Have you found the rate of tolls that have been charged at the turn¬ 
pike gates very high? u 0n the city road toll, I have paid a shilling. I do not 
know whether it is according to proportion, for it was a thing that did not 
embrace my attention at that time; but the highest toll that I have paid is a 
shilling; but on the road that I run from Stratford to London they told me 
they would not take it; they would take it another day. 

What effect do you think your carriage has upon the road, in proportion 
with a carriage equally loaded with four horses? I think, myself, we should 
rather improve the roads by the operation of our engines, because a steam 
coach requires broad wheels, perfectly upright and flat on the outside of 
the tire. 

What is the breadth of the tire? The tires of the present wheels are about 
three inches and a half. 

What is the diameter of the hind wheels? Four feet. That is not a pro¬ 
portion that I consider to be working as a profitable diameter; I consider 
that the diameter that should be used for a steam coach is at least five feet. 

How wide could you make that tire without losing power? It depends on 
the weight; but taking the common coaches, I should say from six to eight 
inches. 

Without injuring the power? I have no doubt it would be no drawback 
on the power. 


38 


[ Doc. No. 101.3 

Do you consider that such breadth would be as good as any other, the best 
you could make? Yes; because a broad wheel on gravel is considered to be 
a great advantage; it is a great disadvantage on a road which is between wet 
and dry; but in those cases we have always an overplus of power blowing off 
at the safety-valve, and, from that circumstance, I am rather pleased :at having 
rather a dead road to run upon, because we are obliged to construct the ve¬ 
hicle so as to overcome all obstacles in the road, such as dead gravel, &c. 

To how many of your wheels do you apply your power? To two; occa¬ 
sionally one. 

Do you apply it to a crank? The axletree of the present carriage is made 
precisely the same as the common axles now in use, straight and merely bent 
at the end, and I have a chain which I put on the nave of the wheel, and 
that communicates with a corresponding chain wheel on the crank shaft of 
the engines. 

What is the size of the circle on the wheel to which you apply your chain? 
About ten inches. 

How wide is the corresponding circle on the crank shaft? The corres¬ 
ponding pully of the shaft is just the same; so that the power of the engine 
is the same exactly as though it were applied to the wheel itself. 

You have two wheels; how do you move the first wheel? There are two 
engines working on two cranks, exactly on the same principle as used in 
common for steam coaches. I take the chains; I place the engine four feet 
from the axletree of the hind wheels, and the communication of the chain is to 
allow me to put my work on the springs; and the play of the carriage up 
and down is accommodated by the chain. 

Is your cylinder on springs? Yes, every thing on springs. 

Do you make use of one or two cylinders? Two. 

What size? Twelve inches in the stroke, and nine inches in the bore. 

Has your engine met with accidents? No, except once I broke my chain; 
but in the course of five minutes we could replace that chain, by taking an 
extra chain with us. 

Are your boilers easily cleaned? In all the experience I have had with 
the working of boilers, I have found that they never require cleaning. I con¬ 
sider that the ebullition is so rapid, and the action of water so violent, tha 
it will not allow any dirt to fix. 

How long do you calculate one of your boilers would last? It depends up¬ 
on the thickness of metal. The boiler we use I consider will last, in loco¬ 
motive engines, from a twelvemonth to two years. 

What is the thickness of the iron that you use? I should suppose about 
the eighth of an inch thick. 

Of what material are they composed? Of the best charcoal iron. 

What is the appearance of your carriage; has it an unsightly appearance? 

I think my present carriage is any way from being handsome, because it has 
been built entirely for experiments. 

Does the chimney rise above the carriage? No, you cannot see the chira. 
ney. 

When steam is let off, where is it let ofl? You can see nothing of it. 

Then there can arise no annoyance either from smoke or from waste 
steam? None at all. 

Do you find that horses are frightened by your carriage? I think I may 
say safely, that not one horse in a thousand will take the least notice of it; 




39 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

occasionally a horse may shy at it. I have seen fine blood-horses come along 
and shy at a wheelbarrow lying in the road, and not shy at my engine. There 
is one very curious instance which I had once occurred, and I was obliged 
to the gentleman for the pains he had taken. He had a fine horse on the 
road and this horse shyed: he was determined to get over the difficulty, if it 
were possible; and to make him acquainted with it, he came with the engine 
to town; and at last, when we got to London, the horse got quite tranquil, 
so that he put his head in the engine-house, which is very uncommon, and 
which is a thing I never saw a horse do before. 

Then you anticipate that if such engines become more common, there will 
be less difficulty in this respect? I have no doubt of it. 

Does it produce any very extraordinary noise in its motion? We have 
worked so quietly latterly, that I have almost run over’people on the road, 
and they have not heard me. I have had to halt very often: they have not 
been aware of the coach coming. 

Under any circumstances, the noise that is anticipated would take place 
from the defect of the machinery, and not from the machinery itself? Yes; 
we make one-third of the noise of a common stage. 

When you let off* steam, does it produce any violent noise in stopping? I 
can give an instance to the contrary which occurred in London, which is the 
best place to put the thing to a test. About a fortnight or three weeks ago, Mr. 
Wilks was kind enough to mention my running on the Stratford road, and 
I wished him to present a petition from me to the House of Commons, and 
at the same time requested that he would take a ride with me in my engine 
on the Stratford road. I waited three quarters of an hour for him, and the 
machinery was working the whole of the time; there were hundreds of peo¬ 
ple walking round it, and I suppose they did not know it was working at 
all; there was no noise at all in the machinery; and you could not, unless you 
had gone to the back, known that it was working. 

Does spare steam pass off*without noise? Not any. 

Supposing that you were going at full work, and that you had occasion to 
stop for a passenger, you would be obliged to letoffsteam? Yes; but know¬ 
ing from experience how to obviate a disadvantage of this kind, which of 
course practice alone has brought to bear, it is probable that a stranger would 
hardly know it, it is so quiet. 

In what part would it be thrown off? It is divided and thrown off* from 
the fire in every direction, and it is instantly consumed; the force is spent. 

Is not that rather a dangerous experiment to throw a great body of steam 
upon a confined fire? No, we have never found any disadvantage from it. 

In no circumstances in which the engine may be at work, have you to let 
off steam in a way to create a noise? No, the boiler will not hold any quan¬ 
tity of steam; we let off steam from the safety-valve as fast as we make it; 
there is no capacity for accumulation; the fault of many of the boilers is, that 
if any accident happens there is a complete explosion. 

Then, of course, the danger is lessened? Yes, to construct a boiler of that 
kind has been my object, so that the steam may be let off. 

Suppose if one of your boilers were to burst, what would happen? I will 
give the committee an instance. I was travelling about nine miles an hour 
at the time the boiler was the twenty-fourth part of an inch thick. I was 
workingthen at 100 lbs.Jon the square inch, with 13 persons on the present 
vehicle that I have now in use; and all of a sudden the carriage stopped, and 
for what reason I was at a loss to know. I got from my stage seat and went 


40 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

to the engineer to ask him what was the reason he had stopped the steam; he 
told me he had not stopped the carriage, and he immediately applied his hand 
to the guage cocks. 1 found there was neither steam nor water in the boiler. 
I immediately knew that th« boiler was burst; they said they did not know it, 
as they heard no noise, and I told them that I did not mean they should know 
it. I said I would show them that it was so, and I took the boiler from the 
carriage and unscrewed it, and there were four large holes that I could put 
my hand into. This occurred from the chambers being too thin, and they 
drove all the water out of the boiler, and yet there was no injury to any per¬ 
son; there was not one person that heard any report; there was no steam, 
and there were no symptoms in any way that the machine itself had burst. 

Do your boilers extend under the place where passengers sit? No, quite 
at the back. • 

What is the length of the carriage? About 16 feet, and the room the boil¬ 
ers occupy is about three feet. 

Are the chambers of the boiler placed upright side by side? They are 
placed sideways. 

In what circle could you turn your carriage? The circle of the inner 
wheels would be four feet, and the outer wheel would exceed that by the 
breadth between the wheels: taking the average it would be ten feet. 

Supposing you wanted to turn round, what should you do? If I got into 
any difficulty, and wished to go back, by applying my hand to the lever I 
should reverse the motions and run the reverse way. 

Supposing that you are travelling in a street of ten feet wide, and that there 
was another street of ten feet wide branching off at right angles with the first 
street, would there bejany difficulty in turning into it? Not any; but I could 
not turn round in thatyjstreet. In that case, I should back the engine. 

Would you check your speed? That would depend upon the speed I was 
going at. If I was going at six miles an hour, it is probable that I should 
not check the speed; but if I were going ten miles, it is probable that I should 
before I turned round into the street. 

Are your fore-wheels and hind-wheels the same diameter? The fore¬ 
wheels are three feet three, and the hind wheels are four feet. 

Can you reverse the action of your carriage with great ease? Yes; by sim¬ 
ply pulling a lever: it is done momentarily. In my present carriage I could 
not; but I have an arrangement of that kind in the other carriage which I 
am making. 

Supposing you were going at the rate of eight miles an hour, and that you 
wished to stop suddenly, in what number of feet could you stop your car¬ 
riage? I will say twelve feet. 

Of course there is equal facility in avoiding any particular object on the 
road? Yes. J 

In stopping so suddenly, would there not be a danger of your being thrown 
off? No, I think not. 

Have you ever done it? Yes, I think I have. 

Supposing you wanted to stop in the quickest possible way, at what dis 
tance could you stop at that rate of speed? About four feet, I should think* 
by backing the engines, because it is like putting a block to the wheel ’ 

Would there be no danger in that? No, I think not; it would throw a 
strain on the engines; the rate of eight miles an hour is not so great; it is onlv 
m extreme dases that that would be done. I am very frequently obliged to 
pull up very short, from children running in the road. 


41 


[ Doc. No. 101. 1 

Of what materials are \ our wheels made? Like common dished wheels, 
they ought to be perfectly cylindrical. I merely took them to avoid expense: 
they were wheels which I had by me. 

Are you proprietor of any other coaches? No. 

Have you any means of ascertaining the proportion of friction that there 
is on your wheels, and those drawn by horses? No; I have never gone in¬ 
to experiments to any extent upon that point 

Are your wheels shod frequently? No, I have never had occasion to 
have the wheels shod; they were not worn out. 

For what number of miles could you run without being obliged to shoe 
your wheels? I* do not know. 

Do you find any difference of wear between your propelling wheels and 
your drawing wheels? No, except in relation to the weight on the hind 
wheels. We throw more weight in order to produce friction, to get adhe¬ 
sion to the ground. 

Have you any scheme of tolls to produce to the committee, which you 
think would be equitable to lay on steam carriages for the use of the?road? 
I have considered the thing a great deal, and, after taking every thing into 
consideration, the weight of the engine and the weight of the boiler, and so 
on, on the one hand, 1 think it is much upon a par with the weight of the 
horses, and the weight of the coach, and the weight of the passengers, on the 
other. 

What would you consider the most equitable mode of charging steam car¬ 
riages? I think there can be no better mode than charging them as other 
coaches are charged. 

Supposing that a common coach at present takes eighteen persons, and 
you, by improvement of your coaches, could take thirty-six persons, how 
would you apportion the rate of tolls that you ought to pay? In that case, 1 
think the fairest way would be to have it in proportion to the number of per¬ 
sons that are carried. 

Do you think it should be charged by weight? That, perhaps, would be 
as fair a way as any of charging the toll. 

Charging the weight of your engine as compared with the weight of com¬ 
mon coaches? Yes. 

Have you turned your attention to the improvement of your machine, by 
affixing a carriage to it, and making your engine independent of the carriage? 
Yes; I have considered the thing well in every point, and I think it is much 
better to construct the carriage both for passengers and machinery on one 
arrangement, not to have the thing divided: my reason for considering it an 
improvement is this; for instance, if a new road is made, the object of the 
proprietors of that road is to get as heavy a roller as they can, even if it requires 
eight horses to draw the roller. They do that in order to imbed the gravel to 
make it solid; and the nearer that steam coach approaches that roller, the 
better it is for the propelling wheels. 

With respect to the tolls, are you satisfied with the present tolls you pay? 
I think they are exhorbitant: from Islington to the city road they charge me 
a shilling. 

Are you aware what four-horse coaches, with eighteen passengers, pay on 
the same road? I am not aware. 

From what cause do you judge it excessive? From the short distance 
which I come. I do not knowVhat length of road I should have had to run 
before I should have been subject to another toll. 

6 


42 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Have you considered the subject whether it would be more equitable to 
charge the steam carriages by horse-power or by weight, or by the number 
of passengers? I think the fairest way would be in proportion to the num¬ 
ber of persons they carried, or in proportion to the weight. 

What would you give as the basis of your calculation, considering that the 
number of persons which the different coaches carry varies from eight to 
eighteen? I see no other way, excepting that of the number of passengers, 
or according to the weight. 

Have you made any calculation as to the number of horses that the exten¬ 
sion of these carriages will displace with respect to each stage; what horse 
power is equivalent to the carriage that you run? I take astage to run 100 
miles a day, and I reckon upon the average it would take from from 48 to 50 
horses for the whole distance; the common average is a horse a mile; but 
from the information I have endeavored to get, from what I have gathered, 
I find it about 48 or 50. I believe it is to be taken backwards and forwards 
at a horse a mile. 

Would your carriage displace along the road four horses on each stage? 
Two ten-horse engines would displace the whole number of horses along the 
stage. 

Have you made experiments which enable you to answer these questions? 
I was not at all prepared; my principal object has been to ascertain what pow¬ 
er I have to do a certain work. I have paid very little attention to horse 
power. 

Do you think that your carriage is equivalent to a four-horse carriage on 
the road, in the number of persons it would draw? It is more than equiva¬ 
lent to it, from the circumstance of its being able to do more work. 

Supposing you have to run seven miles, how many passengers could you 
carry at your present speed? Fourteen. 

Supposing that a coach of four horses were to run that seven miles, how 
many passengers would it take? It would carry the same number. 

What weight, upon a dead level, will set your carriage in motion on the 
road if you were to attach a rope to the pole, and suspend that rope over a 
pulley, and attach a weight to it, what weight will set your carriage in mo¬ 
tion? It is an experiment I never tried, and I am not prepared to answer. 

Do you know what, if you were to set your carriage on an inclined plane, 
is the inclination that will set it moving? No, that is not a thing which I 
have tried. 

Do all the wheels follow in the same track? Yes, they do. 

Have you ever tried your carriage up hill on an inclination? Yes, I have, 
repeatedly. 

Do you find an increased difficulty in proportion to the length of the in¬ 
clination? No, we go much slower; but we never find any difficulty. 

Have you ever found your wheels slip? No, excepting once on the city 
road, at the time when the frost was on the road; it was quite slippery; and 
then, for an experiment, I tried to see if I could run up the Pentonville Hill 
with one wheel only; and I did, but it was with some difficulty towards the 
top. If I had propelled by the two wheels, there would have been none. 

Have you found at what inclination in a frost the wheels will begin to turn? 
I never witnessed such a thing. 

Are you aware that such a thing will occur? Yes; but I think there are 
no hills which are to be found, upon which horses travel, but what a coach 
would propel itself up. 


43 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Have you ever seen your carriage get into a deep rut? Yes. 

In such a case what generally happens? If it is a single wheel, it may go 
round two or three times; if I have two wheels, it is improbable I should get 
into such a situation. 

Do you find peculiar states of the roads upon which you travel, more dis¬ 
advantageous than others to the progress of your carriage? Yes. 

Which do you find the most disadvantageous? When the roads are be¬ 
tween wet and dry. 

In going down a hill, are you obliged to lock your wheel in any way? Yes, 
if it is much down hill; it depends upon its inclination. 

What is the nature of the provision for locking the wheel? A metallic 
band, bearing upon the outer part of the wheel. 

What are the fares that you take, higher or lower than ordinary stages? 
They are the same fares as the stages fares; eight-pence from Bow, and nine- 
pence from Stratford. 

How much is that a mile? Barely two-pence a mile. 

In what proportion to what is charged by stage coaches do you think you 
should be able to charge your fares? I think the fares would be reduced to 
two-thirds, after a short time, if supported and not overburdened by tolls. 

Should you be able to continue running if the fares were reduced to two- 
thirds? Yes. 

In your present state of knowledge upon this subject, in what propor¬ 
tion do you think the rate of travelling would be diminished? In the pro¬ 
portion I have stated of two-thirds. 

Is it your opinion, that, generally speaking, it would be reduced two-thirds? 
Not in the outset, but after the thing has had full play. 

Have you made any calculation of the expense of running a coach drawn 
by four horses, carrying a certain number of passengers, and that of running 
with one of your carriages at the same velocity? I have endeavored several 
times, but I have never been able to get an accurate account of the power and 
other expenses incurred in driving a long stage; but I reckon my own expen¬ 
ses will cost from three to four pounds a day, including all expenses at¬ 
tached to the coach, wages for engineer, steersman, fuel, oil, &c. 

What expense is it a mile upon your coach? I have taken the one hun¬ 
dred miles, and included the day’s expenses. 

Were you ever a stage proprietor yourself? No. 

Then from your own knowledge you can state nothing as to the cost of 
carrying passengers by a stage coach? No. 

Could you, if you were to travel one hundred miles in ten hours, keep up 
that rate without damage to the machine? Ye3, I reckon the work would 
be done in eight hours, but the stoppages and one thing and another will take 
up two hours. 


Mercurii , 100 die Jiugusti, 1831. 

John Farey , esquire, called in; and examined. 

Have the goodness to state your profession? I am an engineer. 

How long have you been so? It is twenty-five years since I began my 
studies; I have been much employed by inventors to assist them in bringing 
forward new inventions of a mechanical nature, and in establishing them as 
practical businesses, when they have been sufficiently perfect to admit of so 
doing. 



44 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Have you turned your attention to the subject of propelling stage coaches 
or other carriages, by steam power on common roads, instead of by horses? 

I have had occasion to prepare specifications of several such inventio ns for 
which patents have been taken out, and have in consequence paid a close at¬ 
tention to that subject. I have also been consulted to settle the plans for the 
practical execution of steam coaches, but I have not directed or superintend¬ 
ed any such execution myself. Of the specifications I have prepared, three 
have been followed up by building coaches, which have actually travelled on 
common roads; viz. Mr. Gurney’s, Mr. Hancock’s, and Messrs. Heaton’s. 

I believe those three are the only trials amongst many others which have had 
so much success as to have been persisted in to the present time. I have ex¬ 
amined other steam coaches, but they had no chance of success, and have 
been abandoned. 

Will you state, generally, your opinion as to the probability of this mode of 
propelling carriages superseding the necessity of using horses? All that has 
been hitherto done, or which is now doing, in that way, must, I think, be 
considered as experimental trials. I have no doubt whatever but that a stea¬ 
dy perseverance in such trials will lead to the general adoption of steam coach¬ 
es, and that, at an earlier or later period, according to the activity and intelli¬ 
gence with which an experimental course is conducted; and I am firmly con¬ 
vinced that the perfection which is essential to their successful adoption will 
never be attained by any other course than that of reiterated trials. The 
difficulties with which the steam coach inventors are at present contending, 
are chiefly of a practical nature, which, I think, are not likely to be avoided 
by any great efforts of genius or invention; but I expect that they may be 
surmounted one after another by the experience which may be gained by 
competent mechanicians in a course of practice. I do not look for much 
more invention as necessary to the establishment of steam coaches; but it is 
certain that the practice is indispensable. Each of the three inventors I have 
named has brought his steam coach to that state which renders it a full-sized 
model for making such experiments as serve to prove the principle of action, 
and to teach how a better coach may be made the next time, but nothing more. 
The probability that such next better coach will be sufficiently perfect to 
answer as a trading business, depends as jnuch upon the natural judgment and 
acquired skill of each inventor, as upon the qualifications of his present pro¬ 
duction. 

Has the experience which has already been had of steam carriages been 
such as to enable us to say that it is not merely in theory we have calculated 
on these carriages? Yes; what has been done by the abovementioned inven¬ 
tors, proves to my satisfaction the practicability of impelling stage coaches 
by steam on good common roads, in tolerable level parts of the country, 
without horses, at a speed of eight or ten miles an hour. The steam coach¬ 
es I have tried, have made very good progress along the road, but have 
been very deficient in strength, and consequently in permanency of keep¬ 
ing in repair, also in accommodation for passengers and for luggage; for 
which reasons they are none of them models to proceed upon to build coach¬ 
es as matter of business. From the complexity of their structures and the 
multiplicity of pieces of which they are composed, it is impracticable to 
give them the requisite strength by mere addition of materials, because 
they would then be too heavy to carry profitable loads as stage coaches. I 
do not consider that it is now a question of theory, for the practicability I 
conceive to be proved; but many details of execution, which are necessary to 


45 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

a successful practice, are yet in a very imperfect state. My view of the 
subject will be best understood by stating, that I believe an efficient steam 
carriage might now be made merely to carry despatches, by following the 
general plan of the best steam coach which has yet been produced, improv¬ 
ing the proportions wherever experience has shown them to be faulty, using 
the very best workmanship and materials, and giving a judicious increase of 
strength to the various parts which require it, allowing all the weight of a 
load of passengers and luggage, and of the accommodations for them, in ad¬ 
ditional strength of materials, so that the total weight of the coach, without 
any passengers or goods (beyond the people and stores necessary for its own 
use and one courier,) should be as much as the weight of the previous model 
containing a full load of passengers and luggage. If three such coaches 
were constructed, one of them might start every morning at each end of any 
fair line of road 100 or 120 miles long, and one would arrive every evening 
at each end of that line in less time than a common stage coach; and I should 
expect that, after twelve months’ perseverance, and after making all the im¬ 
provements and alterations in the machinery which so much experience, 
would suggest, the double passage ought to be made with as much safety and 
punctuality, and with much more expedition, than by the mail. The road 
between London and Bristol might be taken as a suitable line, but I should 
expect a pair of horses to be provided at every notable hill, to help the steam 
carriage up it. Such a proposition, it is obvious, offers no inducement to 
individuals, because it would be all expense without any return; but if it 
were judiciously done at public expense, I have no doubt but that it would 
lead to as much improvement in the mode of execution of future coaches as 
would enable them to be run permanently as stage coaches with profitable 
loads. The great defect of all the present models, is want of strength to re¬ 
sist the violence to which they are subjected in rapid travelling with a full 
load; and if that strength were given upon the present construction by the 
mere addition of materials, they would become too heavy to be efficiently 
propelled, even if they carried no load in them. 

Have you seen the last coaches of Mr. Gurney and of Mr. Hancock? I 
have not minutely examined the last addition of Mr. Gurney’s carriage, but 
have met it several times on the roads in my neighborhood, as I have also 
that of Mr. Hancock; and I have travelled in the latter; but he has enlarged 
the cylinders of his engine since I have gone in it. 

You have seen Mr. Gurney’s original boilers; he states that he has altered 
very little in the form of them? Yes; I was well acquainted with the con¬ 
struction and performance of all that Mr. Gurney had attained at the time 
when I specified his patent, three years ago; and I understand generally the 
alterations he has since made, though I have not made trial of any of his more 
recent coaches; the principal change is in separating the engine and machi¬ 
nery from the carriage which is to convey the passengers, so that there are 
two four-wheeled carriages, one drawing the other after it. This change in¬ 
volves no very great alteration in the machinery, which I understand, is 
nearly the same as it was; but the impelling carriage in which it is placed is 
very much lightened by transferring all the passengers to the additional car¬ 
riage which is drawn. Mr. Hancock continues to follow the original plan 
of carrying the passengers in the same four-wheeled carriage with the en- 
gine. * 

As far as your experience has gone, which plan of steam carriage do you 
think will hereafter be most generally resorted to, that of an engine carriage 


46 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

drawing after it another carriage containing the passengers, or of conveying 
the passengers in the carriage in which the machinery is placed? I have not 
had experience in drawing by two carriages, except by the analogy of what 
is done on railways, and hence I feel some difficulty in speaking positively 
upon that point. There are advantages and disadvantages to be considered in 
both modes, but all the mechanical considerations incline to one side, viz. 
to place the engines injthe same carriage with the passengers. That plan will 
certainly be lighter than when two separate carriages are used, and also the 
weight will be laid on those wheels which are turned by the engines, as it 
should be, to give them a firmer adherence to the road; also one carriage 
will steer and turn much better than two, and will go safer down hill, and 
will be cheaper to build and to work. 

By that means great weight is saved? Yes; perhaps one-third is saved in 
exerting an equal power. In stating my opinion of the probability nf a pro¬ 
fitable result, after twelve months’ trial of three coaches to run regularly two 
hundred miles every day, with despatches only, I contemplated that the en¬ 
gines and passengers would beultimately inonecarriage, becausethatplan has a 
mostdecided mechanical advantage in makingprogressalong the road, and also 
in facility of steerage, and safety in going down hill, and fewer servants are re¬ 
quired to manage one carriage than two. On the other hand, all the constructions 
that have yet been tried with one carriage, subject the passengers to more or 
less occasional annoyance from heat and noise, smoke and dust, and there is 
still an apprehension of danger from the boiler: hence passengers will inva¬ 
riably prefer to go in a separate carriage to be drawn by the engine-carriage; 
that mode also offers a facility of changing the engine for another, or for post 
horses, in case it gets deranged, because the change may be made without 
unloading, and discomposing the passengers. For common stage coaches these 
are strong motives to use a separate carriage, and if it can be brought to bear 
in comparison with horses, that mode will probably be most generally adopt¬ 
ed by the influence of the passengers, although the other mode will inevita¬ 
bly perform the best and attain the greatest speed of travelling. 

Taking the two machines of Mr. Gurney and Mr. Hancock in their pre¬ 
sent state, do you think them entirely free from defects likely to prove dan¬ 
gerous to travellers? I do not think the danger is at all considerable in 
either Mr. Gurney’s or Mr. Hancock’s: there are dangers in all travelling; 
but I do not think the amount of danger will be at all increased by substitu¬ 
ting steam lor horses, according to either of those plans. 

The question refers to the peculiar danger from the nature of the propell¬ 
ing power? I am not inclined to think that there is any peculiar danger which 
would be incurred by the change; and if the engines and passengers are not 
on the same carriage, I think the ordinary danger would, on the whole, 
be diminished. 

The question is with reference to the relative danger of travelling ten miles 
an hour when drawn by horses, and when propelled by steam at the same 
rate? The danger of being run away with and overturned is greatly dimin¬ 
ished in a steam coach. It is very difficult to control four such horses as can 
draw a heavy stage coach ten miles an hour in case they are frightened, or 
choose to run away, and for such quick travelling they must be kept in that 
state of courage that they are always inclined for running away, particular¬ 
ly down hill, and at sharp turns in the road. The steam power has very 
little corresponding danger, being perfectly controllable, and capable of ex¬ 
erting its power in reverse, to retard in going down hill; it must be careless- 


47, 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ness that would occasion the overturning of a steam carriage, which carries 
the passengers in the same carriage with the engines. The distinct carriage 
I consider to be much less controllable in turning corners and going down 
hill, but yet far more so than horses. The chance of breaking down has 
hitherto been considerable, but it will not be more than usual in stage coach¬ 
es when the work is truly proportioned and properly executed. The risk 
of explosion of the boilers is the only new cause of danger, and that ± consi¬ 
der not equivalent to the danger from the horses. There have been, for 
several years past, a number of locomotive engines in constant use on rail¬ 
ways, all of them having large high pressure boilers, very much more dan¬ 
gerous than Mr. Gurney’s or Mr. Hancock’s, whether we consider the pro¬ 
bability of explosion, or the consequence likely to follow an explosion, be¬ 
cause, being of large diameters, they t are less capable of sustaining the inter¬ 
nal pressure of the steam; and also they contain a large stock of confined 
steam and hot water. The instances of explosion among those locomotive 
engines have been very rare indeed. 

Have you seen Mr. Hancock’s last improvement? Yes; I consider Mr. 
Hancock’s boiler to be much better for steam coaches than any other which 
has been proposed or tried. • 

If that boiler were to explode it is understood that there would be no dan¬ 
ger at all? It is very difficult to foresee that; at the same time, the risk of 
explosion in Mr. Hancock’s boiler is certainly very much less than in the 
locomotive boilers which are in constant use on a large scale on railways, 
and where we have proof that the extent of the danger is very small. 

Do you think his boiler might explode without the passengers knowing 
anything about it? The metal plates of which the boiler is composed will 
burn through by the continuance of the action of the fire, and may crack or 
open so as to let the steam or water out of the boiler and disable the coach 
from proceeding, but that is hardly to be called an explosion; no one would 
be hurt. The crack which lets out the hot water is sure to throw it into the 
fire in that case, and not on the passengers. 

You consider the danger to passengers by the chance of bursting of a boil¬ 
er as not equivalent to the danger of horses running away? It is not equiva¬ 
lent, in my opinion; the probability of a coach being overturned by the horses 
is far greater than that of a boiler bursting, and when either accident does 
occur, the probable extent of mischief from an overturn in which all the 
the passengers must participate, is much greater than could be expected from 
the bursting of a boiler, which must always be kept at a considerable dis¬ 
tance from the passengers on account of the heat. 

Supposing either Mr. Hancock’s or Mr. Gurney’s boiler were to burst; in 
the one case the boiler being in a separate carriage, and in the other, the boil¬ 
er being at considerable distance behind the passengers, what danger do you 
think could arise to the passengers from the bursting of the boiler? There 
is very little difference between the two cases; the separate carriage obviates 
any apprehension that passengers could entertain from the danger of explo¬ 
sion, and will therefore be preferred by most passengers, butformysell I do 
not rate that risk so high as to be induced to encounter the complexity of the 
two carriages, and to forego some of that new security which steam power 
offers by its controllability in descending hills and turning corners, compared 
with horses; and which circumstance, as I have before stated, I think the 
plan of one carriage is much to be preferred, and probably the other objec¬ 
tions of heat and noise and dust may be overcome by some new means, 


48 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

which have not yet been shown. In Mr. Hancock's carriage the boiler is 
quite behind, and away from the passengers, so that they are out of dan¬ 
ger, if there is any, and are not materially annoyed by heat or smoke and 
dust, except at times when the wind brings it forward, and that rarely hap¬ 
pens when the coach is moving. 

Is not the danger attendant on the bursting the boiler greatly diminished 
by the subdivision of its internal capacity into tubes or small and flattened 
chambers? Unquestionably, until the danger of explosion has become ex¬ 
ceedingly small; but the great difficulty of boilers for steam coaches is, that 
the liability to burn through the plates has been increased by that expedient 
for ensuring safety; and the progress of the invention has been impeded be- 
’ tween those two difficulties in a greater degree than from any other circum¬ 
stance. It was a desideratum fora long time to contrive a boiler, which, be¬ 
ing made of such thin metal as would not render it too heavy, should have 
sufficient strength to retain high pressure steam without danger of bursting; 
also that it should expose a sufficient external surface of metal to the fire and 
flame, and of internal surface to the contained water, to enable the required 
quantity of steam to be produced from such a small body of water as could 
be carried on account of the weight: both these conditions were fulfilled by 
subdividing the contained water into small tubes or into flat chambers, which 
expose a great surface in proportion to their internal capacity, and admit of 
being made strong with thin metal; but there is also another condition which 
is rather incompatible with the two former, viz. that there shall be such a 
very free communication between the interior capacities of all the tubes or 
narrow spaces, as will combine them all into one capacity, and permit the 
contained water to run from one to another, and also permit the steam, which 
is generated in innumerable small bubbles within the narrow spaces, to get 
freely away from them, to go to the engines without accumulating and col¬ 
lecting into such large bubbles as would occupy the spaces and displace or 
drive out the water before them; for, if that effect takes place, it produces 
three great evils; the water boils over into the engines along with the steam, 
and is wasted, and the thin metal which remains exposed at the outside to 
the fire, becomes burning hot in an instant, after the water is so driven away 
from the internal surface, and the further production of steam is suspended, 
so long as the water continues absent. If such displacement of the water 
takes place frequently, and in many of the narrow spaces at once, the 
boiler will not produce its proper quantity of steam, and the thin metal will 
soon be destroyed by the fire and burned through. 

Have you seen Mr. Hancock's boiler? Yes; I have had many trials of it; 
and I am well acquainted with Mr. Gurney's. The former uses flat chambers 
of thin iron plate standing edgeways upwards over the fire in parallel vertical 
planes; the latter uses small tubes (such as gun barrels are made of,) to contain 
the water, the fire being applied on the outsides of the tubes. In Mr. Gurney’s 
boiler I think the subdivision of the water into small spaces is carried too far, 
because the steam cannot get freely away, out of such small tubes as he uses 
(and they are also of great length) without displacing much of water which 
ought always to be contained within them. By an ingenious arrangement 
of connecting pipes and vessels which he called separators, he collects all the 
water which is so displaced along with the steam, and returns it again into 
the lower ends of the same tubes, and thus avoids the evil of water boiling 
over into the engines; but. that makes only a partial remedy for the diminish¬ 
ed production of steam, which is attendant on the absence of the water from 


49 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

the heated tubes, and the still greater mischief of burning and destroying 
the metal. Hence the evil of burning out the tubes is very great. Also his 
separators hold a considerable weight of water, from which no steam is 
generated; and they require to be heavy in metal, to render them quite safe 
and strong. Mr. Hancock has taken the middle course in subdividing the 
water in his boiler, having all that can be required for safety, and the weight 
I believe, on the whole, to be less than that of any other boiler which will 
produce the same power of steam; for, owing to the freedom with which the 
steam can get away in bubbles from the water, without carrying water with 
it, the surface of the heated metal is never left without water. Hence a 
greater effect of boiling is attained from a given surface of metal and body of 
contained water, and that with a much greater durability of the metal plates, 
than I think will ever be obtained with small tubes. 

Do you think there is a danger of such an explosion as could do injury 
from the mode in which Mr. Hancock’s boilers are constructed? That danger I 
hold to be very slight; the metal of Mr. Hancock’s chambers will burn through 
in time, the same as that of Mr. Gurney’s tubes will do, but not so soon. I 
think, taking the thickness of metal to be the same in both cases, no injury 
will be done by such burning through. The flat chambers in Mr. Hancock’s 
boiler are very judiciously combined, and are secured against bursting by 
causing the pressure which tends to burst each one open, to be counteracted 
by the corresponding pressure of the neighboring chamber, and the outside 
chambers are secured by six bolts of prodigious strength, which passthrough 
all the chambers, and unite them all together so firmly that I see no probabli- 
ty of an explosion. Mr. Gurney’s vessels, called separators, are secured by 
hoops round them, and, being of a small size, may be made very safe. Hence 
I think the two boilers may be put on a par as to their security; but there is 
a decided preference in my opinion of Mr. Hancock’s form of subdividing 
the water and steam compartments, which I believe is carried too far in Mr. 
Gurney’s tubes whereby the water, included within the several tubes, cannot 
make way to allow the bubbles of steam to pass by it. This is owing to the 
great length and the small bore of the tubes; and they are so isolated one from 
another, that the water within them is not able to act as a common stock of 
water, or to keep all the interior surfaces of the metal tubes thoroughly sup¬ 
plied with water: thence, there is a deficient production of steam and an un¬ 
necessary destruction of metal. 

Are you aware that, in Mr. Hancock’s carriage, the waste steam which is 
discharged from the engines after having performed its office, is thrown into 
the fireplace, and makes its escape upwards along with the flame, smoke and 
heated air, and gas, which ascend from the fire to act on the boiler?—That 
is the way in which he gets rid of the waste steam which the engines dis¬ 
charge, and I understand that he thereby avoids the puffing noise and ap¬ 
pearance of steam which is common with high-pressure engines. Mr. Han¬ 
cock blows the fire with a current of air produced by a revolving fanner, 
which is turned rapidly round by the engines, and therefore he requires no 
tall chimney to produce a draft. Mr. Gurney formerly used a singular fan¬ 
ner to blow the fire, and also a chimney of some height; but I understand 
he has lately laid it aside, and adopted the plan of carrying the waste steam 
which has passed through the engines into the bottom of the upright chim¬ 
ney, and there discharging that steam through a contracted orifice in a ver¬ 
tical jet, which, by rising upwards with great velocity in the centre of the 
chimney tube, gives a vast increase to the draft of heated air and smoke in 
7 


50 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

the chimney tube, without any great height being necessary; and this plan 
occasions a most active current of fresh air to pass up through the fire, and 
urge the combustion. This is a most important improvement in locomotive 
engines, which has been introduced by Mr. Stephenson into his engines on 
the Liverpool and Manchester railway, and being there combined with an 
improved boiler, it has been one of the great causes of the brilliant success of 
that undertaking. I believe the same plan will be indispensable to the com¬ 
plete success of steam carriages; for chimneys cannot be used high enough 
to obtain a draft, and blowing the fire is a very troublesome affair. I fear 
Mr. Stephenson’s plan would occasion more noise than is allowable on com¬ 
mon roads; but that may perhaps be avoided or diminished by some new ex¬ 
pedient. 

Do you think any danger would arise from the waste steam being dis¬ 
charged over a large mass of fire on Mr. Hancock’s plan? Not the least 
danger; all the waste steam which blows off at the safety-valve, and which 
the engines do not require, is got rid of in the same way; but I expect Mr. 
Hancock does not help the combustion of the fuel by thus mixing the waste 
c :eam with the flame before it acts against the boiler. Mr. Stephenson’s 
: mprovement, which Mr. Gurney has adopted, is to discharge all the waste 
-learn into the bottom of the upright chimney with a violent vertical jet, in 
nrder to accelerate the draft up the chimney. The waste steam, therefore, 
is mixed with the smoke and gas, after the smoke had ceased to act on the 
boiler. The waste steam was very commonly discharged into the bottom 
of the chimney, in Trevethick’s high pressure engines, many years ago, in 
order to mix with the smoke ascending in the chimney, and thus get rid of 
the waste steam; it improved the draft in that way, by rendering the smoke 
more buoyant, but only in a slight degree; but the waste steam was not dis¬ 
charged through a contracted orifice to give it velocity, nor.was it directed 
upwards as is now done by Mr. Stephenson, and that vertical jet of steam 
in the centre of the chimney, gives such an intensity of draft through the 
fire as was never procured before, and, with the further advantage, that the 
rapidity of draft so produced, increases whenever the engines work faster, 
and discharge more steam, just in proportion as the demand for fire and 
steam increases by that working faster. 

Is there any noise occasioned in that way ?—Yes; but the sound is direct¬ 
ed upwards by the chimney, and is not much heard in the locomotive en¬ 
gines on the railway when they are in the open air, but when they pass un¬ 
der the bridges, the sound is reverberated down again by the arch, and then 
it sounds very loud. The noise is no great consequence there, and noparticular 
pains have been taken to avoid it. The metal pipe of the chimney has 
something of the effect of an organ-pipe or trumpet, but it is probable the 
sound might be deadened. 

Will the burning out of the plates of Mr. Hancock’s boiler, that you spoke 
of, be attended with risk of explosion of the whole boiler, or only of the 
smaller divisions of the boiler?—It will be attended with no violence which 
could be called an explosion, nor with any danger whatever, but only with 
the inconvenience of disabling the carriage until the ruptured chamber is re¬ 
placed by another. The rupture or crack of the metal plate at the burned 
place, would let out the water and steam very gradually into the fire, and 
probably extinguish it. All steam boilers burn out in that manner sooner 
or later. The different chambers of Mr. Hancock’s boiler are kept together 
by six very strong bolts, which pass through them all, and which are 


51 


f Doc. No. 101. ] 

quite protected from the action of the fire; to burst the boiler those bolts 
must give way altogether, and there is no adequate force to produce any 
such effect. 

Are you acquainted with the construction of the new steam carriage which 
started this w’eek from Gloucester to Cheltenham?—I am not, further than 
that is on Mr. Gurney’s plan. 

Apprehension has been felt that these steam coaches will be found to give 
gjeat annoyance to travellers passing them on the public roads, from smoke 
and the peculiar noise from letting off the steam; do you apprehend such re¬ 
sults will take place?—I do not anticipate any great annoyance will result 
to travellers in other carriages. I have passed Mr. Hancock’s on the road 
severaj times and Mr. Gurney’s also, and have travelled in them often;horses 
take a little notice of them when in motion, but not much, and very soon 
become accustomed to them. I once met Mr. Hancock going very quick 
along the New road, and drew up to see him pass; I had no difficulty what¬ 
ever in making my pony stand, though rather a spirited one. Mr. Hancock 
did not observe me; and as I wished to go with him, I turned and drove af¬ 
ter him, and after a race to overtake him, I had no difficulty in drawing 
alongside of his steam carriage for a good way in order to speak to him, and 
get him to stop for me. The emission of hot air was very sensible, when 
following close alongside of the boiler at the hinder end of the carriage, 
but I did not observe any puffing of steam. 

Do you think that whatever annoyance exists in the present steam coach¬ 
es may be removed by the improvement of the carriage, and particularly 
the appearance of the carriage?—Certainly their appearance may be improv¬ 
ed; they are most unsightly now. The general question of farther im¬ 
provements in steam coaches depends upon the general mechanical skill and 
judgment of the mechanicians who turn their attention to the subject, and 
the peculiar experience they acquire in this particular branch of mechanics, 
by continually practising and exercising with steam carriages, on roads of all 
kinds in all weathers, to find out their defects, and how to remedy them; 
and what is the best mode of management; also, by building new and better 
carriages as soon as they have learned what will be better than the present 
ones. But all this must be at a great pecuniary loss, and some further en¬ 
couragement must be held out in order to induce the more skilful mechani¬ 
cians to embark in such a pursuit; for, at present, it is by no means an object 
of attention to our best and most competent engineers, because they know 
they w r ould only throw aw r ay their money and time by undertakiug steam 
coaches, even if they were to succeed ever so completely. The patentees 
are a different class of men; they are the inventors, who have first organized 
and arranged the combination of machinery which is to be used; and accor¬ 
ding to law, they have acquired a legal property in those peculiar combina¬ 
tions wffiich they have discovered, that has been their encouragement and 
stimulus to exertion; but the terms of their patent rights will be very likely 
to expire before their inventions come into use to such an extent as will re¬ 
pay them their previous costs with any profit thereon; and also, with the 
present defective state of the law on the subject of patents, they will be un¬ 
usually lucky if they are able to make good their patents at law, in case 
their rights are contested. The patentees are not experienced mechanicians 
or engineers, and have had to learn the business of engine-making and of 
coach-making as they went on; and a great deal of the deficiency of the pre¬ 
sent steam coaches has arisen from the circumstance, that th ey have been 


52 


[ Doc. No. !0I. ] 

made by persons who were not at that time qualified to execute either a com¬ 
mon coach or a common steam engine; but they have acquired more skill, 
now, and we may expect more finished productions from them in future. 
There is no mechanician, of the class of those who will be ultimately em¬ 
ployed to make the engines and machinery of steam coaches when they 
do come into use (and who alone can give that perfection of design, proportion 
and execution, which is essential to their coming into use,) who will have 
any thing to do with them now; not so much from any doubts that they 
would not be able to succeed in perfecting them, as from a conviction that 
the expense of attaining success would be greater than would be repaid by 
any advantage they could afterwards derive from making such machines, 
in open competition with every other mechanician who chose to copy after 
their model* when perfected; for that perfection of design, proportion, and 
execution, in which steam coaches are now wanting, though very laborious 
and expensive of attainment, would not be grounds for exclusive privileges 
under the existing law of patents. The patents to the first inventors are 
the only ones which are professed to be recognised by law, though in effect 
they can scarcely ever be maintained at law. That is a very important 
point for the consideration of the committee, and one w r hich deserves 
great attention. As the law of property in inventions now stands, when 
a new invention is advanced to such a stage that it may be considered to 
be tolerably perfect as an invention, no further exclusive privilege can be 
maintained to compensate for the skill, labor and expense, which must be 
incurred to find out true proportions, dimensions, weights and strength, which 
are essential to bring it to bear as a practical business. The law professes 
to give the whole to the first inventor, although he may have only laid the 
foundation on which another has raised the superstructure;and if, as usually 
happens, the claim of the first inventor is set aside, from technical informali¬ 
ty in his title-deeds, and also when his term expires, the whole superstruc¬ 
ture lapses, to the public. For these reasons, those who are the most com¬ 
petent to the task of giving the finishing touches of practical utility to great 
inventions, are kept back by being aware that they shall not be repaid. 
Under such circumstances, a defect of judgment would be proved a priori 
against any one who might commence such an unpromising pursuit, and 
that want of judgment «v r hich could permit a man to overlook the pecuniary 
considerations, would not be favorable to his success as a mechanician, in 
giving that precision of form and dimensions, and that practical utility, to 
an invention which requires an exercise of the cool judgment resulting from 
experience, rather than of the genius depending upon original thought. 

You do not consider the inconveniences of the present steam coaches to 
be inseparable from the invention? Certainly not; but I do not think that 
any of the individuals at present engaged in the pursuit are the most compe¬ 
tent persons who could be chosen to overcome the remaining difficulties, 
being inventors, who have almost completed their parts of the task, and not 
experienced practical engineers, into whose hands the affair of building the 
next steam coaches ought now to pass, under the general direction and ad¬ 
vice of those inventors. If the building of steam coaches is continued in 
their hands, they will only advance towards perfection of proportion and 
execution by slow degrees, as the patentees acquire that general skill as en¬ 
gineers and mechanists which is already possessed by professional engineers. 

You think that the machinery may be improved by better machanists? 
I have not the least doubt of it; and yet those mechanists are not the proper 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 53 

men of genius to have invented what has been hitherto done by the 
patentees. 

Apprehensions have been felt by trustees and surveyors of roads that 
steam carriages are more injurious to roads than carriages of equal weights 
drawn by horses; what is your opinion upon that point? I should not ap¬ 
prehend that the present coaches are injurious in a greater degree than other 
carriages of equal weights; and when steam coaches are really brought to 
bear, I think they will be much less so than any carriage at present in use 
taking horses and the carriage they draw against engines and the carriage 
they impel, at weight for weight. All my observation upon steam carriages 
has led me to believe that they do no particular harm to the road. I could 
never perceive any peculiar marks that they left in their tracks,'*and, an ex¬ 
amination of the iron tire on the edges of the wheels of Mr. Hancock’s car¬ 
riage, shows evidently that no slipping takes place on the surface of the 
road; and that fact is proved to a certainty by other observations on the 
working of that carriage. It will be a long time before a sufficient number 
of steam carriages travel over any road to bring their effect on the materials 
to the test of experience; but, on general principles, I have no hesitation 
whatever in stating my opinion that they never will answer as long as they 
do injure the roads any more than the fair wear occasioned by the wheels of 
other carriages of the same weight; for any injury they might do to the road 
must be by slipping of their wheels on the road, which would be a waste of 
the power of their engines, and hitherto they, have had no power to spare; 
or, if their wheels are too narrow, and they cut deep into the road, the 
power of the engines will be wasted. If they are to be efficiently ad¬ 
vanced, the whole power must be fairly exerted in advancing them forwards 
along the road, without turning their wheels in vain on the road, or cut. 
ting ruts in the road. I am confident that, if the wheels slip at all on the 
the roads so as to lose motion, or if they penetrate so as to make ruts, those 
coaches will not answer, and the defects must be remedied, or the coaches 
must be given up. 1 do not mean to affirm whether the present steam 
coaches which draw other carriages after them do or do not slip on the road, 
because I have not examined them; but I am of opinion that, for the ulti¬ 
mate successful application of steam power, the carriages must be so con¬ 
structed that they will do less injury to the roads than .carriages drawn by 
horseS; and whenever steam coaches become common, I think the roads 
will be most materially benefitted by the change. 

Supposing the total weight of a stage or mail coach, drawn by four horses 
at ten miles an hour, to be two tons, and the weight of the four horses to be 
two tons, what proportion of the wear of a Macadam road would you ex¬ 
pect to be occasioned by the wheels of the coach, supposing them to be the 
usual breadth of stage coach wheels, and what would be the wear by the 
horses’ feet? It is impossible to fix an accurate proportion for such a ques¬ 
tion as that; but I have no doubt but that, weight for weight, horses’ feet do 
far more injury to a road than the wheels of a carriage, and particularly 
so at quick speeds, because wheels have a rolling action on the materials of 
the road, tending to consolidate, and the horses’ feet have a scraping and 
digging action, tending to tear up the materials. One test of the wear by 
horses’ feet will be in the wear of towing-paths for canals, and the railway 
roads where horses are employed. In either of those cases, the number of 
horses which pass along is so small, that no turnpike roads afford any ex 


54 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ample of comparison, and yet the wear of towing and railway paths is 
found to be considerable. The rapid wear of horses , shoes is another test. 

It has been stated by a previous witness, that the proportion of the wear 
of a Macadam road, under such circumstances, would be about two thirds 
by the horses, and one-third by the carriage; should you think that a fair 
approximation to the truth? I have no means of judging with such pre¬ 
cision, but I have no doubt whatever that, in the case above supposed, the 
wear by the horses’ feet would be much greater than the wear by the 
wheels; for, independently of the difference of the action, as before stated, 
the rapidity of the blows wherewith the horses strike down their feet, in 
stepping quickly, wears the road, and they keep their feet pressing on the 
same spot for a sensible time afterwards, which must have a far greater ef¬ 
fect on the materials, to wear and loosen them, than the comparatively pro¬ 
gressive rolling of the wheels over the road, because the latter remain only 
an imperceptibly short space of time on the same spot, and have a consolidat¬ 
ing action. 

May you take the wear of horses’ shoes, in proportion to that of the tire 
of the wheels, as a fair test of the proportionate wear of the road by each? 
No, by no means; because the pressure which the wheels exert, and which 
wears away the tire, is, under certain conditions, very beneficial to the road; 
whereas the pressure occasioned by the horses’feet is in all cases pernicious. 
On a gravelled road, which is not yet consolidated, the rolling action which 
causes the wear of the tire of wheels produces a great improvement of the 
road, when the treading action, which causes an equal wear of horses’shoes, 
does nothing but mischief. The harder and more solid the road becomes, 
the less this may be apparent, because the wear of the road becomes so im¬ 
perceptible; nevertheless, I think the proportion of less wear by wheels 
than by horses’ shoes, will still hold true. 

What is the average width of the tire of the wheels of steam carriages 
you have tried? Mr. Hancock’s wheels are two inches and three inches 
broad; in Mr. Gurney’s carriage, when he carried the load along with the 
engines, the wheels were two inches and a half broad; but I understand he 
has widened them since he has altered his system of drawing a separate 
carriage, which is to be expected as a necessary consequence of the altera¬ 
tion. 

Do you think the machine would act with less advantage if the wheels 
were wider? That depends entirely upon the weight resting "Upon the 
wheels, and the sort of roads they are to run upon. I think it would be 
better for those individual carriages to use broader wheels than they had. 

If the tire of Mr. Hancock’s were six inches broad, would it be an advan¬ 
tage or a disadvantage? I think six inches would be too wide for that 
description of carriage; about four inches I should think a suitable width for 
his wheels. Mr. Hancock’s carriage is so arranged, that a greater propor¬ 
tion of the whole weight of the carriage is thrown upon the hinder 
wheels, to one or both of which the power of the engines is applied, than 
upon the fore wheels: that I think is very judicious, because it ensures such 
an effectual adhesion of the hind wheels to the road, that no slipping can 
take place. The breadth of the wheels must be so proportioned to the 
pressure that they exert on the road, that they will not indent or press in, 
to leave deep marks behind them. The actual breadth that will be suitable 
to any given weight will depend upon the hardness of the materials of 


55 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

which the road is made, and roads differ very much in that respect. I 
think that in all cases the breadth of wheels which will enable the carriage 
to make the best progress, will be that which will do the least injury to 
the road, for it will be that which will occasion no disturbance of the stones 
after they have been consolidated, but will only wear away their upper 
surfaces, and the iron of the tire. 

You have stated that you think the bringing of these machines to perfec¬ 
tion is retarded, because there is not a sufficient prospect of encouragement, 
and that steam coaches are therefore confined to the hands of persons who 
have not the same skill in practical mechanics as others, who would under¬ 
take the subject if adequate encouragement were offered; can you point out 
any mode by which that encouragement could be given?—Nothing could 
do it so effectually as offering a handsome parliamentary reward for the attain¬ 
ment of some specified performance, such as keeping a steam coach for pas¬ 
sengers regularly plying on some suitable road for two years, during which 
it should not have failed to arrive by steam more than some specified num¬ 
ber of times, and within a certain number of hours of lost time from the 
time-bill of the mail on the same road. Suppose this were done between 
London and Bistol, for a reward of 10,000 L it would cost the public no¬ 
thing if it were not accomplished, and the establishment of that one coach to 
carry the mail would be worth the money to the public whenever it was ac¬ 
complished; or between London and Holyhead would be still more im¬ 
portant, but that would require 20,000 /. reward. Another plan of more 
immediate application would be to offer a bounty of a fair price per mile 
for carrying despatches by steam (as I suggested before) whenever they ar¬ 
rived in a specified time; the price should be sufficient to pay expenses. 
That would, I think, be the best course, because I believe it would be un¬ 
dertaken at once by individuals, provided that no stipulations were made 
either for or against carrying passengers or goods. They would be sure to 
carry passengers and goods as soon as they could; for their own profit; and 
it might be stipulated, that after any coach had earned a certain sum in 
bounty, it should not be entitled to more. The effect of such public re¬ 
wards has been very striking in the case of the invention of means of ascer¬ 
taining the longitude at sea. Another way would be, instead of money, 
to give exclusive privileges for a term to any persons who should first suc« 
ceed in establishing steam coaches on specified roads, under specified con¬ 
ditions of performance; or a society offering a premium, as was done in the 
case of steam navigation to India, would have a good effect: as was also 
shown in the case of the locomotive steam carriages on the railway between 
Liverpool and Manchester. There a most inadequate premium (only 500 /,) 
brought the invention forward more than ten following years of desultory 
and unencouraged attempts would have done. 

You think those means would produce a great effect?—I have no doubt 
of it; an important result may often be within a moderate sum of attainment, 
and yet a prudent man will not set about it. It will be certain to cost 1,000 L 
and a year’s hardlabor of an engineer, whose time is worth 500 /. more, to 
make a new steam carriage in a proper manner and bring it to bear as a busi¬ 
ness, supposing that its performance turns out as near to previous calculation, 
according to the experimental coaches now in existence, as can be expected, 
and that no radical alterations require to be afterwards made in it. After 
succeeding in the attempt, he must expect to make copies of it on the same 
terms as other makers, who would examine one of the first coaches he sends 


56 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

out, and copy it with very little trouble. The operations of competent me¬ 
chanicians in making first machines of new invention, and bringing them to 
perfection in all their details, are necessarily more expensive than those of 
first inventors, who execute their experimental machines in a slovenly man¬ 
ner with cheap workmanship only as experiments; but when those experi¬ 
ments have been gone through, an extreme soundness and accuracy of 
workmanship is the only chance of attaining success in the machines which 
are sent out for real business. For want of experience to direct the me¬ 
chanician as to the right form, dimensions and weight of each piece of his 
machine, it often happens that, after having made a piece of expensive work, 
it will prove too slight or too heavy when set to work, and he may have 
to make it over again as expensively. The copyists, who will afterwards 
come into competition with him when his machine is brought to bear, will 
have no such difficulties. 

You conceive that a grant of public money as a premium would call forth 
the necessary degree of skill?—I have no doubt of it; we have had very 
few instances of invention being stimulated by the offer of public leward; 
but the instances, ascertaining the longitude is a most brilliant example. 
The facility and accuracy with which the longitude is now determined at 
sea, is the result of one of the greatest efforts of human genius and presever¬ 
ance. The stimulus of reward has occasioned both modes of it be perfect¬ 
ed, viz. by astronomical observations and by time-keepers. We should very 
soon have steam carriages brought into full use if such a reward were offered. 

Have you ever ascertained the duty or performance of work done in res¬ 
pect to the fuel consumed by locomotive engines?—They vary so greatly, 
that it is difficult to make a statement. The common locomotive engines 
which have been used for several years to draw coal wagons on railways, 
have remained without material improvement for a long time, and their per¬ 
formance is very low, being only equal to raising about four millions pounds 
weight one foot high by the consumption of a bushel of coals, their boilers 
evaporating about four cubic feet and a half of water into steam with each 
bushel of coals. Such engines exert six to eight-horse power. Mr. Ste¬ 
phenson’s new quick-going engines on the Liverpool and Manchester rail¬ 
way are more improved in duty, and are in a progressive course of improve¬ 
ment; but as they burn coke instead of coal, the established mode of com¬ 
putation is inapplicable. Mr. Stephenson’s small engine, called the Rocket, 
which gained the prize of 500/. offered by the Liverpool and Manchester 
railway company, and which was the model for succeeding engines, exert¬ 
ed about six horse power during that trial, and burned 177 lbs. of coke per 
hour, which is at the rate of about five millions and a half pounds weight, 
raised one foot high by the consumption of 84 lbs. of coal; but they have 
greatly reduced the consumption of fuel in the succeeding engines on that 
railway, owing to enclosing the cylinders of the engines within the low¬ 
er part of the chimney, were they are kept very hot, and an increased ef¬ 
fect has been given to the fire by blowing the waste steam upwards through 
the chimney, as I stated before. In the Rocket they were just beginning to 
be aware of the value of that expedient for animating the fire, and it was 
done in a degree, but it has been since done more completely. 

Do you know how near any part of the railroad between Manchester and 
Liverpool runs to the common road?—I cannot say; in passing along the 
railway, I do not recollect seeing the turnpike road, except crossing it se¬ 
veral times. 


57 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The noise maeje by (he engines used on the railway is much greater than 
by the steam coaches, is it not? Yes; Mr. Hancock’s coach makes less 
noise than any of Mr. Stephenson’s engines; but the power exerted by the 
latter is much greater than b}' Mr. Hancock’s engines. The quick-travel¬ 
ling carriages on the Manchester and Liverpool railway, when drawn by 
the last improved engines, are extremely easy in their motion. 

Is it your opinion, that a road would suffer less injury from the fore and 
hind wheels of a steam carriage following each other, in the same trackson 
the road, than if they run on different tracks?—That depends upon what 
kind of action the wheels exert on the road; if they cut it up and disturb 
the materials, by pressing down some stones so deep as to displace other 
stones sideways, and cause them to rise up at the sides of the track, then it 
is best not to allow such wheels to cut the road twice in the same places; but 
if the fore wheels roll the road smooth on the surface, and consolidate, with¬ 
out disturbing the materials; that is, if they only press down the stones over 
which they pass as much as will produce a close contact, but not so much 
as to displace the neighboring stones laterally, then I think the hinder 
wheels should follow in the tracks of the fore wheels; certainly that is best 
for the carriage; and l believe it will be found that it makes but little dif¬ 
ference to a good hard road whether the four wheels of a carriage follow in 
the same track or not, provided that the wheels are not loaded so as to in¬ 
dent deep into the solid materials of the road. All carriages ought to have 
their wheels of such a breadth that they will not leave any material inden¬ 
tations in the road. They should rather consolidate the materials than break 
them up. If the fore wheels are only so much loaded, in proportion to 
their breadth and to the hardness of the road materials, that they will con¬ 
solidate the materials over which they have passed, then I think it is quite 
as well for the road and much easier for the carriage, that the hind wheels 
should follow in the tracks of the four wheels. The loading of the carriage 
may be so arranged that the principal weight will be borne on the hind 
wheels, and the fore wheels may (by a suitable apportionment of breadth) 
be qualified to consolidate the road in their tracks, and thus prepare the way 
for the passage of the hind wheels, with the least wear of the road and the 
greatest ease to the carriage. It is quite as much the interest of the proprie¬ 
tors of carriages, as of the road trusts, that the roads should not be cut up 
by too narrow wheels, for it is always at the expense of horse-labor that the 
road is thus injured, independently of the evil of having a worse road to 
travel over the next time. If the wheels are too narrow for the load upon 
them, and the road materials soft, so that the wheels do print tracks in the 
road, that evil will be greater, if the hind wheels follow the fore wheels 
than if they run in new paths; but it is better to remove the evil, by using 
broader wheels or less load, or harder road materials, and to run the wheelsin 
the same tracks; because the resistance to a carriage is, in all cases, increased 
by running the wheels in different tracks, and that with little or no benefit 
to the road; particularly, when the road is covered with mud and wet dirt or 
snow. The above observations apply to all four wheeled carriages, whether 
they are drawn by horses or impelled by steam; but, in common carriages, 
the horses’ feet tend to dig up the road. I think the steam carriages will, 
when perfected, be free from that objection, and that they have a greater 
claim to be allowed to run their wheels in the same tracks than other car¬ 
riages. 

Were you ever in Mr. Hancock’s carriage, when travelling? Yes; I have 

S 


58 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ridden on it; but he has put in larger cylinders since I went with him the’ 
last time, and I understand makes better progress now. I have examined 
all his present machinery in detail, and think it veryjudiciously planned. 

Did you find that it frightened horses, or annoyed passengers? I have 
stated before, that I found horses were not frightened; but every one must 
judge for himself of the degree of annoyance he experiences. Persons who 
are accustomed to travel in luxurious private carriages, would find many an¬ 
noyances in a common stage coach, which others would consider as excel¬ 
lent travelling. I am so accustomed to machinery, and to stage coach tra¬ 
velling and to steamboats, that I am not liable to be annoyed thereby; and 
I found riding in Mr. Hancock’s carriage to be exceedingly like travelling 
in a stage coach. I heard no complaints by passengers. I believe he has 
never found any difficulty in getting passengers, since he has run for hire. 
Persons are reported to be annoyed by the smell of hot grease, in the steam 
coaches on the Cheltenham road; I can only say, that I never observed such 
a smell in Mr. Hancock’s carriage. If there are any real annoyances to the 
passengers in particular steam coaches, they will work their own cure in a 
short time, either by the proprietors finding out remedies, or else giving up 
their coaches, as they must do if they are not rendered agreeable to the pas- 
engers. The only question that deserves attention, is, whether there is any 
danger to psssengers, or any serious annoyance to other persons not passen¬ 
gers. 

Did you observe any horses or carriages passing his carriage? Yes, I have 
always passed through crowds of horses and carriages with all the steam coach¬ 
es I have tried; there is so much curiosity excited by the novelty of a steam 
coach in motion, that all the horses on the road are drawn up to get a sight of 
it, and many are turned to follow after it. I have observed that some horses 
take very little notice of the steam coach; others are a little startled, but I 
never saw any difficulty which the reins could not control with the great¬ 
est ease. Horses are easily alarmed at any thing unusual, but they very soon 
become accustomed to any thing, as is shown by the readiness with which 
horses can be brought to endure discharges offire-arms and of artillery. A 
patent was taken out some years ago for what was called a travelling Adver¬ 
tiser; it was a small four-wheeled.carriage, supporting an enormous octagonal 
tower, which was stuck all over the outside with printed bills for advertise¬ 
ments. It was drawn very slowly through the streets by one horge, and had 
a most unusual appearance: this machine was indicted as a nuisance because 
it frightened horses. 

Have you never observed horses to shy at a stage coach when heavily la¬ 
den? I have observed horses to be alarmed at the enormous bulk which 
some of the vans carry at times at a greet height above ground. Horges are 
the most timid animals to encounter every thing that they are not accustom¬ 
ed to, and the most courageous animals to encounter every thing that they 
are accustomed to, even when really terrific, such as discharges of fire-arms. 

Had you occasion to turn any sharp corners when in Mr. Hancock’s car¬ 
riage? Yes, many; the yard of his premises is exceedingly narrow and in¬ 
convenient to turn into and out from, but it is done with ease by the steam 
coach; but the same place would not do at all for a coach and four horses to 
put up at. 

Going at what speed can you turn round a sharp corner without any dan¬ 
ger? I do not remember turning with any considerable speed, nor should 
it ever be attempted With any carriage if it can be avoided, and there can be 


59 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

no pretence or necessity for going quick when turning a steam coach, as its 
power is quite controllable, in which respect it has a great advantage over a 
common carriage; for four horses at the moment of turning, are very little 
under the control of the reins, particularly the leaders, and it depends upon 
their good will whether they choose to go slow or go quick when turning. 
In a steam carriage, the conductor has such a perfect control of the power, 
that he can never fail in checking the speed at the moment of turning. I 
observed that Mr. Hancock’s carriage is steered with the greatest ease; and 
will turn round in a very short space : I have seen him turn round in the 
new road to return without backing the carriage at all, although he was in 
the middle of the road when’he began to turn. 

If you had turned a sharp corner, could you have stopped immediately on 
meeting a carriage? Yes; the power of stoppage is most remarkable: that 
is one of the great advantages ofa steam coach. I have steered Mr. Han¬ 
cock’s carriage myself, and found it to be most completely under control. 

The carriage may he turned in the smallest space that the wheels will per¬ 
mit it to go round in? Yes, in a much smaller space than a carriage with 
horses can turn, because it is so much shorter in the total length, and the 
power being completely under control, there is no danger in turning quite 
short; whereas no prudent driver will turn a four-horse coach round in a 
road, without the guard getting down and holding the leaders’ heads; for 
they are not sufficiently under the control of the reins in turning to do it 
with safety. 

Did you ever see a steam carriage going down a hill? Yes, down the hill of 
the new road at Islington; and it was done with more safety than with any 
carriage with four horses; but I do not contemplate the descent of steam 
coaches down very steep hills, for that supposes their getting up such hills, 
which is not likely to be accomplished soon, and the present coaches seem 
to me to be only fit for our most improved lines of roads, where all very 
steep hills have been reduced to moderate slopes. 

Have you turned your attention particularly to the subject of going up 
steep hills, and what ascent do you think can be surmounted? In forming 
my opinion of the probability that steam carriages will be brought to bear, I 
could not overlook the circumstance that they would have to go up and down 
hills; but most of our great lines of roads are now so improved, that what were 
formerly called steep hills are not very numerous or frequent; but wherever 
they do occur, I propose to give the steam coach the assistance of a pair of 
post-horses in aid of its own power. In going down hill, steam coaches are 
very safe, because the whole power can be effectually exerted to retard or 
resist the turning of the wheels. 

Mr. Gurney’s steam coach has gone up Highgatehill without horses? Yes, 
but I understood that it was broken in pieces in coming down again. My 
objection to attempting to make a steam coach go up a steep hill, in the pre¬ 
sent state of our knowledge, is, that it requires to have a great strength, and 
consequent weight of machinery to have a sufficient power to do so with 
safety, and which weight is a useless incumbrance and impediment to pro¬ 
gression at all other times. The question is, whether all the machinery of 
a steam carriage should be made twice as strong and heavy as is necessary 
for impelling it with safety on a tolerable level road, merely that it may have 
power* within itself for going up a few occasional hills, or whether it is better 
to make the machinery lighter, and take the occasional assistance of a pair of 
post-horses? There can 1 be no objection to the latter expedient, except the 


60 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

expense of such horses; and as the steam coach can carry goods to profit in 
place of all the weight of machinery which is saved by making it lighter, I 
think that the aid of post-horses would be an economy. In forming such an 
opinion, I follow a maxim which I had always found to hold true; viz. that 
steam power is certain to be more profitable than horses, if the work is to be 
kept constantly going on, because then the great advantage of steam power, 
that it does not tire, becomes fully available; and to perform the same ser¬ 
vice by horses, a very great number must be kept for change; but for busi¬ 
nesses, which require only occasional working, or for working during on¬ 
ly as many hours each day as horses can do without changing, steam power 
loses its great advantage over horses, and in some cases they will do the 
work cheaper. One great item of the expense of steam power is the first 
cost of machinery and engineers’ wages, both which would be only the same 
for working twelve hours per day as for one hour and a half, which is the 
utmost that a stage coach horse can draw at ten miles an hour. A steam 
coach should work twelve or fourteen hours in every twenty-four hours, to 
gain the full advantage of the system of steam power over horse labor; the in¬ 
tervening tenor twelve hours will allow ample time for putting every thing 
in perfect order for the next journey, if the machinery is what it ought to be, 
and there should be a spare coach for every two which are running, to al¬ 
low time for more considerable repairs; hence, I reckon that three steam 
coaches should keep up a double passage of 100 or 120 miles a day continu¬ 
ally. Expensive machinery, which is only to be worked occasionally, will 
not, in some cases, do work so cheap as it can be done by men or by horses 
without machinery; and that l conceive to be the case with the extra cost, 
weight, strength and complication which must be given to the machinery of 
a steam coach, in order to enable it to go safely up steep hills without assis¬ 
tance. I apply these remarks to the present steam coaches, but future im¬ 
provements may in time produce that species of machinery which will effect 
the going up hill with less difficulty than the present. It has been supposed 
that the diameters of the cylinders being larger than is necessary for going 
on level ground, they could be worked with a diminished strength of steam 
to go on level ground, and stronger steam when going up hill. To get up 
ordinary and moderate hills, that is certainly the right plan; but it requires 
the strength of all the moving parts of the engines to be made sufficient to 
bear the utmost force that the pistons can exert when impelled by the strong- 
steam that is ever to be used; also, the large wheels which run upon the road 
should be made very broad on the edges, and of proportionate strength. The 
present coaches have been faulty in these respects, and yet the machinery is 
too heavy. Another way of getting sufficient power to go up hill, is to have 
the pistons only a suitable size for going along the ordinary road, and to in¬ 
troduce wheel-work, which can be thrown into action when a hill is to be 
ascended, and which will turn the wheels of the carriage round only once 
for three turns of the cranks of the engine, and consequently with a triple 
force. Mr. Hancock has shown me the parts of such machinery which he 
is now making for a new steam coach, with wheel-work and endless chains, 
on a plan which 1 think very likely to answer for ascending moderate hills; 
but for very steep hills, I think it is desirable to have a help by post-horses. 
The immediate desideratum is, to construct a steam coach with the power 
and strength necessary to go quickly and safely along the best lines of road 
which can be found, without any steep hills upon them, and taking assistance 
of post-horses where it is necessary. If that is accomplished, and such a 


61 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

coach is worked continually for two or three years, it would probably lead 
to the knowledge of the proper kind of machinery to go up steeper hills; but 
if the adoption of steam coaches is to wait until they are rendered much more 
perfect, it will be a very long time, because practice is essential to finding 
out a proper plan. 

Do you think there is any danger in going down a hill in a steam carriage? 
Much less than in a common stage coach; for, by backing the engines, so that 
their power is brought to an act in opposition to the turning round of the 
wheels, and with the assistance of drags or brakes, rub on the rims of the 
wheels,'and aid in retarding their motion, by friction, steam coaches will 
safely get down all moderate hills, such as are met with on our best lines 
of turnpike roads, say between London and Holyhead; and with machinery 
such as Mr. Hancock is now making, if it is suitably proportioned, I expect 
a steam coach would not require assistance to get up hill at more than five 
or six places between London and Holyhead. 

Stanmore and Highgate hill you call moderate hills?—Not the old High- 
gate hill; but the Archway is a very fair road, on which a steam coach 
should not feel the least difficulty. I do not. call those moderate hills which 
are common on the roads in many parts of Devonshire and Cornwall; it will 
be a long time before steam coaches will be able to travel there; and the 
goodness of the roads is to be considered as well as the slope. No steam 
coach that I have seen, possesses that strength and weight of machinery 
which, being on the present construction, will enable it to get up even a 
moderate hill without risk of breaking; for, though it may climb up the hill 
by accumulating the strength of the steam, the parts have not been made 
strong enough to resist the strain to which they are then subjected, if they 
were frequently used; and if the work were made, on the present plan, 
strong enough to endure the extra strain of getting up a steep hill with safe¬ 
ty, there would be too much weight of machinery for travelling on the or¬ 
dinary road. 

Can they ascend a hill so steep as one in eighteen?—That I think is too 
much for them, without the aid of horses, unless the surface of the road 
were of the very best quality; but such hills are usually bad roads. 

Are they competent to ascend a such hill as St. James’s street?—I have not a 
very particular recollection of the slope of that hill, but I believe it is 
paved, and I think that it would be about their maximum; for a great deal 
would depend upon the surface of the road. They would go up all the length 
of Regent street, which is, I expect, almost as steep as St. James’s, but it is 
a better surface; and I think they should go up any good road not exceed¬ 
ing a rise of one in thirty''; and if more inclined, or if the road is bad, they 
should be allowed one or two horses. I doubt if they could ascend the 
Pentonville hill in its present shameful state of neglect; but if it is made 
good, then I think they might. 

Have you turned your attention to the subject of apportioning the tolls 
on steam carriages, so that they may bear their due proportion to the tolls 
on carriages drawn by horses? No, I have not paid much attention thereto; 
it is a subject which would require more consideration and more data than 
I have before me. I am convinced that if a steam coach, complete when 
travelling, weighs no more on an average than a stage coach with its four 
horses complete weighs on an average, there is no reason for charging any 
extra toll for steam coaches, but, oq the contrary, I believe it will turn out 
in the sequelthat they ought to go for less toll, because they will wear the 


62 


[ Doc. No. 10U ] 

roads less than the present coaches whenever they are made really efficient; 
and, in the mean time, until that is accomplished, I think it may be very 
safely left to the chance of events as to injuring the roads to any extent 
whatever, by injudicious attempts to work steam coaches of an injurious 
construction, on the consideration that if any new coach which may be 
tarted, does injure the road, it will be very soon given up from its own de¬ 
merits, probably before it has produced any visible effect on the road. 
Suppose its wheels were to slip so much as to plough out ruts on the road, 
t would most likely stick fast, or be broken to pieces in the first journey 
along the road, and such abortive attempts will not be repeated very fre¬ 
quently. It is idle to talk of one or two steam carriages doing much visi¬ 
ble injury to a frequented road in a year or two, even if they run constant¬ 
ly, for, suppose that it wears the road four or five times as much as one carri¬ 
age of the same weight drawn by horses (including those horses in the 
weight,) it would only be equivalent to four or five additional coaches pas¬ 
sing each day, and that on the road from London to Birmingham, for in¬ 
stance, would be quite imperceptible. I am confident that any steam coach 
which does a road any greater damage than equivalent to carriages drawn 
by horses, will fail of itself in a short time, and prove an unsuccessful pro¬ 
ject. I should strongly recommend the new system to be left to its own 
chance of success or failure, as far as the roads and the safety of passengers 
are concerned; and I think the same reasoning applies against any regulation 
for the breadth of the wheels for steam carriages, because they will not per¬ 
form well if their wheels are so narrow as to cut the road materially. I 
understand that the old system of regulations and penalties, as to over weights 
on given breadths of wheels for common carriages, has been done away 
with on the roads in an extensive district round London, and I think that 
it is good policy, from the circumstance that the proportion regulates itself 
by the interest of the owners of carriages, when the fact is understood that 
carriage wheels, which are too narrow in proportion to the load on them, and 
to the hardness and goodness of the road, will always draw heavier than 
wheels of a suitable breadth; and that, though the carriers may not find out 
the proper breadth at once, they will do so in the end. The old acts for 
forcing the use of very broad wheels by making tolls operate as penalties 
and premium, was a most injudicious system of legislation, and did nothing but 
harm; the carriers soon found out how to evade the intention of the act, by 
using very broad conical or barrelled whells, rounding on the edges, which 
conformed to the words of the law, but which acted on the road like 
narrow wheels. The broad wheels intended to have been encouraged 
by the old act of Parliament, were expected to act as rollers to make and 
improve the roads, and were encouraged to carry excessive loads for that 
object; but if the wheels of the broad wheeled wagons actually used had 
been really such as the Legislature contemplated, they could not have 
been continued in use on account of the great increase of draft; but the 
aroad wheels actually used, carried such loads, that they crush the road 
materials to powder, owing to the conical form of the wheels and the 
bending of the axletrees; they bore on the road almost wholly at the 
inner edges of the iron tires, and not across all their breadth, as was intend¬ 
ed. The advantage to the carriers in tolls, and in increased loads, indited 
them to use such broad w’heels, when it would have been against their in¬ 
terest to have done so, if they had paid the same tolls for the weight of 
goods as other carriers, and their operation on the road was more injurious 
than any other carriages. There is no particular breadth of wheels which 



63 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

can be prescribed as the best to carry given loads over all sorts of roads, for 
much depends upon the hardness of the road materials, the size to which 
the pieces are broken, their general form and disposition to consolidate into 
■a hard bed the resistance the materials offer to wet and frost, and to wear¬ 
ing by the wheels, the breadth of the wheels, and the load upon them, 
should be adapted to all the combinations of circumstances, and the carrier 
will soon find, if his wheels are not best adapted to the road, by the draft 
being greater than it ought to be. As to steam coaches, the wear which 
will take place on roads, from all that can, by any probability, be expected 
to be brought into use for some years, will be so small that it cannot be felt 
for a considerable period, and when it is felt it, will be time to look round 
and see what is the real effect on the roads of those particular coaches which 
are in use, and apportion the tolls that they ought to pay. 

Is it your opinion that weight for weight, including the weight of horses 
on one hand, and of engines and an average of the water and fuel on the 
other, the tolls should be the same on steam carriages as on horse-drawn 
carriages? I think that if it were so, it would prove a considerable advan¬ 
tage to the roads, because, as I have stated before, I think the roads will be 
considerably benefitted by the change of impelling by. steam instead of by 
horses. I think it will be a great public benefit when steam coaches come 
into common use, and hence that it is expedient that a moderate bounty should 
be offered for the adoption of steam carriages, by giving them all possible 
advantage they can have without trenching on the interests of individuals; 
and if they were allowed to run toll free, and duty free, until a certain 
number were in use, or during a certain time, it would much accelerate 
their introduction, because it would diminish the loss that must necessarily 
be incurred by running them before they are perfected in their construction. 
Small encouragements or discouragements have a considerable effect on new 
inventions in their infant and imperfect state. The advantage to the public 
from steam navigation is now generally acknowledged; but when steam¬ 
boats were in their infancy, an attempt was made by the watermen on the 
Thames to suppress them, by contending that, according to their charter, 
and the usage of the city of London, no persons could be allowed to own a 
vessel plying for passengers on the Thames, nor tq work on board of such 
a vessel, except they were freemen of the city, and belonging to the wa¬ 
termen’s chest. This would have effectually prevented any engine men 
being employed, and, in addition, the watermen engaged all their members 
to refuse to navigate them. After a long dispute and delay of the steam¬ 
boats, it was decided that one out of a number of owners being free was 
sufficient, and that the men employed to manage the engines were not sub¬ 
ject to the watermen’s regulations of freedom of the river; some watermen 
were induced, by giving them small shares in lieu of wages, to exercise 
their right of freedom in favor of the real owners, and to navigate the ves¬ 
sel. It was afterwards attempted to get the measurement and calculation 
for the registered tonnage of the steam vessels made according to the extreme 
breadth across the projecting boxes which contain paddle wheels, under the 
pretext that they occupied that width in the river and in harbors, instead of 
measuring the breadth of the vessel at the surface of the water. If that 
could have been enforced, it would have nearly doubled all the rates on steam 
vessels compared with other vessels; but the subject being brought before 
Parliament, an act was passed to give them the advantage of deducting as 
much from the length of the vessel as is occupied by engines and machinery 


64 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

in calculating the registered tonnage. This was in effect a small bounty 
upon steam vessels, for they have no claim to such an advantage over sailing 
vessels, when the weight of masts, sails and rigging, in the latter is not de¬ 
ducted in calculating their tonnage. The effect of that measure has been 
favorable to the advancement of steam navigation, for though it was but a 
very trifling bounty, and is now of no consequence, it came as a well-timed 
aid, at the date when that act passed, because almost all steam vessels were 
then navigated at a loss, they were so imperfect (like steam coaches at the 
present day,) that their engines were continually getting out of order, where¬ 
by they failed to make their passages, and required expensive reparations,, 
their consumption of fuel was great, and the wear of boiler excessive. Orr 
the other hand, few passengers would go by them at first, and some terrible 
accidents which happened in a few vessels caused them all to be avoided b}'’ 
passengers for a long time. It was only by persisting in keeping them going 
as well as they could, and thereby gaining experience in their management, 
that the numerous defects of their construction were remedied. Most of the 
earliest steamboats had two or three successive editions of engines and ma¬ 
chinery before they were rendered so perfect as to become profitable; and, 
in addition to the expenses of such alterations and improvements in the ma¬ 
chinery, they were obliged to make their passages regularly for some time 
after they were rendered tolerably effective before they acquired sufficient 
confidence with the public as to their safety and punctuality, to enable them 
to obtain as many passengers as would pay the expenses of navigating the 
vessels. For all these reasons, any increase of their expenses was severely 
felt, at that losing period; many were abandoned, and the difference in the 
expenses occasioned by the rates to which vessels are liable, being calculated 
according to the breath across the paddle-wheels, or according to the act 
passed for measuring them short by all the space taken up by the engines, 
would have occasioned others which have been brought to bear to have been 
given up, before they had attained so much perfection as to enable them to 
earn their expenses. In the same manner the tolls levied upon steam coaches 
at present are to be regarded, not as payments out of the profits of a gainful 
trade, but as an increase of loss upon that which is yet, and which must in¬ 
evitably continue to be for some time, a losing business. The ultimate suc¬ 
cess to which I look forward is entirely dependent on the circumstance of 
the first speculators in steam coaches being enabled to go through a sufficient 
term of inefficient performance, and consequent loss, to acquire experience 
in the new business; and that experience will, no doubt, lead to expensive 
alterations and reconstructions of their machinery. There is so much me¬ 
chanical talent to be had for money, that I have no doubt of the final accom¬ 
plishment, if the attempts now making are continued long enough; because 
I am confident that there is (as was the case in steamboats) a real efficacy 
in the principle of action. The general opinion of engineers was not very 
favorable to steamboats when they were first brought forward as a novelty; 
many doubted if they could ever be made to perform well, particularly at 
sea; and others, who foresaw the possibility of that, doubted whether they 
would answer in point of expense of fuel, and wear and tear of engines and 
boilers. If no assistance or encouragement is given to new inventions when 
they are in the infant state which steam coaches are now in,persons who 
find that they only lose money when they expected to gain, by being the 
first to adopt the improvements, are liable to become disheartened, and give 
up the pursuit too precipitately, whereby their undertaking dies a natural 




65 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

death; and that is sometimes the case when it might have been established 
by another two or three weeks’ continuance of the efforts; and that contin¬ 
uance might be induced by some small relief, like the reduction which was 
made by Parliament in the register tonnage of steam vessels, or the taking 
off of tolls from the earliest steam coaches. If by any means they are 
enabled to go on till the proper plan of machinery and management is found 
out, they will afterwards keep their ground, because the profit of working 
by steam in lieu of horses will be very great. The present steam coaches 
are mere experiments, and the next editions of each plan of them will, I 
expect, be losing concerns, and will continue so to be for some time. Under 
those circumstances, every small increase of their expenses is a real retarda¬ 
tion to that practical establishment of the invention which will render it 
useful to the public; such retardation by small causes is operative to a greater 
extent than can easily be conceived. Steam coaches will very well bear 
all tolls and taxes to which other coaches are subject, when they are able to 
carry passengers regularly and profitably; but they want encouragement 
now, instead of difficulties being thrown in their way. As to the right of 
tolls on turnpike roads, it should be recollected that turnpike roads are not 
property, like canals, but trusts, to be exercised for the benefit of the public; 
and if it is for the interest of the public that steam coaches should be brought 
into use, and if that bringing into use will be accelerated by suspending the 
tolls on them at first, the trustees of roads ought not to object to such an 
arrangement. The real amount of tolls they will forego, will be an exceed¬ 
ingly small per centage on the income of their tolls; for so long as steam 
coaches are losing concerns, they cannot be very numerous. 

In the course of your examination, have you meant to confine your evi¬ 
dence to steam coaches? Yes, to steam coaches for public conveyance of 
passengers and parcels in the manner of stage coaches, and travelling at the 
rate of ten piiles an hour on our best lines of turnpike roads, with occasional 
assistance of one or two post-horses, where necessary, to surmount unusual 
hills or very bad pieces of new laid road. If it were thought admissible to 
begin with travelling, at a less speed than that, and to carry goods only in the 
manner of vans, the thing is nearer to accomplishment, because the accom¬ 
modation and comfort of passengers would then be out of the question; and 
also the violence to which quick travelling carriages are subjected, requires 
a greater strength of all the parts than would be necessary to carry the same 
weight at a slower speed. In other respects, steam power will propel a 
carriage as cheaply at a quick rate as at a slower rate. That fact is proved on 
railways, in actual business; and steam coaches will be the same whenever 
they can be made strong enough to bear quick motion without being over- 
lf aded with weight of machinery. That will be one of their great ad- 
y ntages over horse labor, which becomes more and more expensive as the 
speed is increased. There is every reason to expect, that, in the end, the 
rate of travelling by steam will be much quicker than the utmost speed of 
travelling by horses; in short, that safety to travellers will become the limit 
to speed, as is now the case on railways. 

What is your opinion as to impelling wagons by steam? I have never 
considered that at all in detail, and am not prepared to give evidence upon 
the subject. The price of carrying passengers or goods at a quick speed, as 
Is done by stage coaches or vans, will always be so much higher than the 
prices of carrying an equal weight at a slow speed, as is done by wagons, 
that I see no inducement to attempt steam Wagons, which I think would 
9 


66 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

present almost all the same difficulties as steam vans. According to theory, 
the cost of carriage by steam will (as I have stated, be proportionate to 
weight and distance, without regard to speed of motion; for instance, to con¬ 
vey a coach loaded with two tons for a distance of ten miles only, the same 
fuel will be consumed, and the same wear of machinery will be occasioned, 
whether that distance is run in one hour or in four hours. The wages of 
engineers, conductor and guard will be only one-fourth with the quick speed, 
and the first outlay in machinery would be only one-fourth, because four 
times as many engines must be on the road, with their attendants, at the 
same time, to do the work at a slow speed, as at a quick speed; but the 
money earned by the carrier at the slow speed, will be only a small part of 
what would be earned at the quick speed. 

Taking into consideration the comparative expense of horse carriages 
and steam carriages, do you suppose that steam carriages will be able to run 
for half the charges of horse carriages? My own idea is, that steam coach¬ 
es will, very soon after their first establishment, be run for one-third of the 
cost of the present stage coaches; but to become a business at all it must 
necessarily be a business which will offer strong inducements to persons to 
embark in it; and to do that, the rate of profit must be very much greater 
than that which is commonly expected to be realized by the proprietors of 
stage coaches. Their present trade affords a less profit on the capital and trou¬ 
ble of management probably than any other sort of business which is car¬ 
ried on with spirit in this country. The great reason of that is, the constant 
loss by destruction of horses, the fluctuations of the price and quality 
of horse-keep, and the impossibility of reducing stage coach establishments 
in times when travelling business is flat; because the horses must be kept 
and men to attend them at all events, and the loss of running a coach half 
employed is not so great as suspending it, and keeping the horses idle on 
short allowance, till better times come roundj The profit of stage coaches 
which load well is very high, particularly in the fine travelling season, and 
that occasional profit creates an excitement which induces the injudicious 
setting up of more coaches than are wanted for an average of all seasons; 
and for the reasons above stated, their expenses when once set going, can¬ 
not be reduced to meet bad times. The adoption of steam coaches will set 
the trade free from its great commercial difficulty, because they can be laid 
up and kept idle without considerable loss, and brought out again when 
wanted without any new outlay; also fuel does not fluctuate either in price 
or quality to any considerable extent like horse corn. In short, the capital 
embarked in a steam coach trade will not be so rapidly wasted as at present 
in horses. Owing to the great number of horses which must be first 
bought and then kept to do the same work as one steam coach, the first out¬ 
lay in stock will be very small in steam coaches, compared with horses, the 
same of stables, hostlers and harness. The daily expenses of fuel and at¬ 
tendants will be very much less than that of horse keep and attendance; the 
wear and tear of the coaches, and all that is coachmaker’s work, will be only 
the same as at present, but the wear and tear of engines and machinery, 
though a very expensive item on each engine, will be nothing to compare 
with the present repairs, loss and decay of horses, because the number of 
engines is so small. Stage coach horses require to be all renewed every 
three years, notwithstanding a heavy annual expense for what may be called 
repairs of horses: viz. harness, shoeing and farriery. Engines with an 
squally heavy annual expense of repairs to that of horses, will, when per- 



67 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

xected, be kept up thereby in such a state as to last for many years without 
renewal. The metal parts of machinery only wear at particular places, 
which are capable of being repaired or renewed, so that they become as good 
£0»jew; but a horse, when worn to disease at any part, feet, eyes or lungs,, 
becomes incapable of stage coach work forever afterwards. 

Do you apply the principle you have stated respecting the probable wear 
of the roads by steam power being less than by horses, to heavy wagons? 
Yes; my proposition that the wear of the roads will always be at the expense 
of the carrier, applies to all carriages whatever, but more particularly to those 
impelled by steam than to those drawn by horses, because carriages drawn by 
horses may be so mismanaged, as to do very great injury to the roads, and yet 
may makegood progress in travelling. For instance, a wagon having very nar¬ 
row wheels, carrying a heavy over-load, having a sufficient team of strong 
heavy horses, may be drawn along although it breaks the road up to any extent, 
and that as much by the feet of the horses as by the narrow wheels; but, if it 
were attempted to impel the same wagon by steam power acting by the adhe¬ 
sion of the wheels to the road, they would slip round, and it would not get along 
the road. Iam confident that carriages to be impelled by steam machinery 
turning the wheels, cannot be made to answer any good purpose, either for 
conveyance of travellers or goods, so long as they materially injure the 
roads, because if the wheels slip materially on the road, or if they cut sensible 
ruts in the road, they will not advance the carriage efficiently. On the 
other hand, horses may be made to draw a carriage which will injure the 
road. I think that principle must apply to steam wagons as well as to 
steam coaches. 

Then heavier the loads to be drawn, the more important it is to apply 
steam instead of horses, if the roads will be benefitted by that substitution? 
I think so, as far as the roads are concerned, but I doubt if steam wagons 
will offer any comparison of the profit to be derived from steam coaches. 
To get along the road, steam wagons will require very broad wheels, and there 
is no danger of doing injury to the road by them, for they will not get along if 
the wheels are too narrow, but narrow-wheeled wagons drawn by horses 
may do an injury to any extent, for extra horses may be put on, and they 
Will injure the road with their feet at the same time that they draw a car¬ 
riage after them, which also injures the road. It will be a loss to the carrier 
to do so, but there is nothing in the nature of the operation to prevent it 
being done, as there would be in the case of steam wagons. 

Of course, a steam carriage going slower than ten miles an hour will be 
more expensive to travel, on account of the greater expenditure of fuel? 
No; the consumption ot fuel, according to time, would be as much less as 
the motion would be slower; so that the consumption of fuel, according to 
distance, would be the same, whether for a quick speed or fora slow speed; 
but when profit is considered, every thing is in favor of quick speed; be¬ 
cause all goods carried slow must be carried cheap; and quick conveyance 
will bear the highest price of carriage, on account of the expense of going 
quick by horses. For instance, a ton of goods may be carried a mile by 
steam power with a certain consumption of fuel, but it should take no more 
fuJ to carry it a mile, at the rate of two and half miles an hour, than at ten 
miles an hour. There is some qualification to be made in that statement ac¬ 
cording to the state of the roads; it will be true if they are hard and good, 
but if they are heavy, the expense of fuel will be a little more for the quick 
speed than for the slower speed; and itisalso to be understood, that the engines 
must be suitably proportioned for attaining quick speed, because engines, 


68 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

which are only adapted for slow motion, do not work to so great an advan¬ 
tage when they are urged to work quick as when they are worked at or be¬ 
low the speed which the proportions of their parts are adapted to move 
with; nevertheless, that extra expense of going quick by steam power 
be but small, and nothing like the increased cost of travelling quick with 
horses; for horses have only a limited speed at which they can travel, if 
they have no load to carry or drag after them, the whole of their muscular 
strength being then required to advance the weight of their own bodies. The 
speed with which stage coaches now travel, approaches so near to the speed 
with which the horse could travel without any load, that their force^ of 
draught becomes very small. In all cases, horses lose force of draught in a 
much greater proportion than they gain speed, and hence the work they do 
becomes more expensive as they go quicker. The quickest stage coaches 
travelling is now at the rate of eleven miles an hour, and that appears to be 
very near to the utmost limits which nature has prescribed for animal exer¬ 
tion; for those horses require renewal of the whole stock every two or three 
years. This is a comparison of steam power and horse labor, during the 
time that each is actually in operation; but the real difference between the 
performance of a steam engine and that of a set of horses will be found to 
be very great, when it is considered, that, by having one spare steam coach 
for every two or three which are on the road, those coaches can travel con¬ 
tinually all the year round, during fourteen or fifteen hours in every twenty- 
four hours, without any intermission, except stopping for one or two mi¬ 
nutes to take in water at every stage of about seven or eight miles; and thus 
each steam coach can travel 140 or 150 miles a day; whereas a set of four 
stage coach horses can only work during seven hours and a half out of 
every twenty-four hours, or each horse can run fifteen miles a day, and that 
exertion wears them out very soon. A cart-horse, travelling at the rate of 
two miles and a half an hour can work during eight hours out of every 
twenty-four hours, or he can travel 20 miles in a day. Suppose that in both 
cases, of horses going ten miles an hour or only two miles and a half an 
hour, the force of traction was the same during the time that they were 
actually drawing; even on that supposition, there would be the difference 
between twenty miles a day and fifteen miles a day in favor of slow travel¬ 
ling; but in considering the work performed, the great loss in the force of 
draught by quick travelling must be taken into account; and it will be found 
that a cart-horse walking at two miles and a half an hour, could draw with a 
force of traction lOOlbs. on an average, but that a stage coach horse, running at 
ten miles an hour, cannot exert more than 2Slbs. force of traction at an aver¬ 
age. The above proportion of distance travelled, and force of traction ex¬ 
erted in each case being combined into one product, the portion will stand 
thus: 20 miles a day x lOOlbs. draught = 20,000, to represent the work done 
by a horse travelling at the rate of two miles and a half an hour, and 15 miles 
a day x28lbs. draught=:42Q to represent the work done by a horse travel¬ 
ling at the rate of ten miles an hour, which is 4§ to 1 in favor of a slow 
speed; when with steam power there would be only a very slight difference 
of performance at the quick or the slow speed. 

Respecting the injury done to the roads by heavy carriages, whether 
they are drawn by horses or impelled by steam power, you consider that 
Weight for weight (including horses and engines as part of the weight) the 
one will not do more injury to the road than the other? In my opinion, the 
steam carriages will do the least injury of the two. The horses, by tread- 




69 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ing with their feet, excavate and scrape out depressions in the surface of the 
road, that is particularly the case before the road materials are consolidated 
into a solid mass; and the evil of depressions or holes "in the road is not 
the merely injury done by the feet of the horses to those particular parts of the 
EOfjfl in which the depressions are made, but the wheels of other carriages 
which pass over such depressions, drop heavily with force in to them, so as 
to make the depressions continually deeper and larger, and to loosen the 
surrounding stones. In this manner the horses after injuring the road them¬ 
selves, prepare the way for further injury to the road by the wheels of 
carriages. For to have the full benefit of the rolling action of the wheels 
in consolidating the road materials, the latter must'be laid smooth and level 
vr^fore the wheels come upon them; but if the materials are previously 
thrown up into little hills and holes, the wheels will do mischief instead of 
good. 

Suppose the engine and machinery in a steam carriage to weigh two tons, 
and to be able to advance an additional load, equal to their own weight 
along a good road, at an average speed of ten miles an hour, do you think 
that any additional toll should be imposed upon steam carriages be¬ 
yond that paid by four horse stage coaches, or vans; assuming the four 
horses to weigh two tons, and to draw a load of two tons, at the rate of ten 
miles an hour? In such a case, I can see no reason whatever for any increase 
of toll; but the diminished wear of the roads, which I anticipate from the 
use of steam in lieu of horses, will be a reason for a reduction of tolls 
whenever such a diminution of wear is realized. 

Would horses drawing 80 cwt. upon a road, with a slow walking pace, in 
your opinion, do more injury to the road than an engine doing the same 
work? I have had no experience of drawing heavy weights by steam to en¬ 
able me to form an opinion respecting the effect that the broad wheels, 
which must then be used, would have on the road, and what advancing 
power they would have before they began to slip on the road, without ad¬ 
vancing the carriage forwards; nor what would be the weight of engines 
which could advance SO cwt. at a slow speed. I feel some doubt of the 
practicability of making steam engines advance so many times their own 
weight, as I expect it would be, with effect, and I feel confident that, if] the 
^y.esent state of the art, there would be no profit in doing it; but if it were 
accomplished, I believe that the broad wheels of the steam wagon would 
do no injury to the road, whereas, in heavy wagons drawn slowly by 
horses, the horses do far much more injury by digging and scraping with 
their feet than is done by the horse in coaches and vans travelling quickly; 
because the wagon horses having a heavy pull to take must choose places 
in the road where they can place their feet in depressions, in order to get 
hold; hence, on a good smooth road they slip and scrape up the surface. 

Veneris , 12° die Augusts 1831. 

Mr. Richard Trevithick , called in, and examined. 

Have you been long conversant with steam engines? Twenty-six years 
ago I invented a high pressure steam engine and a locomotive engine, and 
since that time Boulton and Watt’s engines have been thrown aside in Corn¬ 
wall, and the high pressure steam engines,with the improvements upon the 


70 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

boilers I have matje, have been throwing Boulton and Watts's engines con¬ 
stantly out of use’j there is not one of those now in use in the mines. The 
average of the duty of Boulton and Watts’s engines, about twenty years ago, 
was taken by Mr. Gilbert, which gave, perhaps, about seventeen millions of 
pounds, lifted a foot high with a bushel of coals; and sometime after tb ot 
Mr. Gilbert made a report in the transactions of the Royal Society, that he 
had found one of my high pressure engines in Cornwall was doing seventy- 
five millions; and, in the same report, he stated that they were doing nearly 
as seven to twenty-eight, or four to one, and as ten to one on the atmospheric 
engines. 

Have you lately paid attention to steam carriages on common roads? I 
have noticed the steam carriages very much; I have been abroad for a go Off 
many years, and had nothing to do with them until lately, but I have it in 
contemplation to do a great deal on common roads; railroads are useful for 
speed, and for the sake of safety, but not otherwise: every purpose would be 
answered by steam on common roads. 

Is your machine applicable to steam carriages? It is chiefly for that pur¬ 
pose, it works without water; now the Manchester carriages use four tuns a 
day, two tuns that they take in when they start, and two they take in mid¬ 
way of their journey; there is that weight to carry, and the loss of time. 

You conceive steam carriages to be applicable to common purposes:’ Yes, 
to every purpose a horse can effect. 

Have you any plan particularly applicable to that purpose? Yes, I have 
taken out a patent for that purpose. This, the plan which I produce, (pro¬ 
ducing the same,) will show the principle. I built a twenty horse engine 
in Cornwall, in order to try this: this I produce is for a ship engine, \_Mr. 
Trevithick explained to the committee the different parts of the machine 
on the plan. ] The bursting of boilers has been occasioned by the boilers 
being left under gauge, neglected to be charged with water, and, I believe, 
by their getting foul and incrusting with salt from using salt water; the low 
pressure engines have burst as well as the high pressure; if the tubes of the 
boilers are heated-red hot, and the engine is standing at the time water is 
still in, the boiler is quiet; but on the engine setting to work, a discharge of 
steam from the boiler to the cylinder causes a great ebullition in the boiler, 
and the water splashing over the hot sides make a superabundant genera¬ 
tion of steam. The space that would be filled instantaneously from the hot 
tubes being suddenly cooled, the space occupied by that superabundance 
would fill three hundred times the space usually allowed for steam, and a 
safety valve of five times the size would give no relief, or not in time; a 
proof that a high pressure steam engine boiler has not been broken gene¬ 
rally by the pressure of the high steam, but from being heated, is because the 
portable gasholders are about ten inches diameter, and the sixteenth of an 
inch thick, and they are charged with 30 atmospheres, or 450 lbs. eadft 
without accident; an accident never happens to them, and the pressure is 
not so great as on half of the strength of iron; the boilers of steam en¬ 
gines in Cornwall have burst that have not been loaded to an eighth part of 
that pressure for the same substance and size of boilers. Therefore, that is a 
proof that they must have been broken by the heating of the boiler, and sud¬ 
denly cooling it by a sudden expansion. The gas holders have never been heat 
ed, and have never been injured. I have known instances whereby turning 
cold water into a red-hot boiler they have exploded. An engine I had the 
care of was injured by neglect of one of the enginemen in that way. The 
boilers to the high pressure steam engines on my construction are cylinders. 





71 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

one in the other, the inner cylinder containing fire, and the outer cylinder 
surrounds the water, and leaves a space of about a foot between the two 
tubes for water. Where they have been neglected the fire tube has been 
made red-hot, and the splashing of water over the hot tube from the ebulli¬ 
tion occasioned by the escape of steam, has burst the boiler by the water 
flowing over the red hot sides, and generating steam faster than it can be 
discharged. 

By neglected you mean that the tubes were not completely covered with 
water? They are not covered with water. With my inferential engine, 
that never can be the case. 

Have the goodness to state to the committee your opinion with respect to 
the wear of the road by steam carriages? I think that the roads will not be 
injured so much by steam carriages in future as they have been, because 
there will be no need to chain the wheels; by putting the valve to the stop, 
the steam going off that has never yet been applied, there is no need to chain 
the wheel. That is very easily done; if the steam is prevented escaping, the 
piston must stand still, and it can be let down as gently as possible; they 
may either stop instantly or go as easily as they please; the throttle barrel 
will answer the purpose to throttle between the cylinder and the dis¬ 
charge pipe; that would be saving of the roads. 

Have you made any observation on the injury done to the road by a car¬ 
riage propelled not in the usual manner, but by a motion communicated to 
its wheels? I think the roads would be less injured by steam carriages than 
by horses, because the wheels will have very little more to carry now than 
they have with horses, and there are no horses’ feet to injure the road: there,, 
fore that part of it is saved; the engines now will be so very light that it 
will be scarcely felt. The power to draw the carriage will be very little more 
than the weight of harness on the horses. 

Would you be inclined, for the advantage of the road, to give greater 
width to wheels if you give greater velocity? I would rather give greater 
width; I do not think the road is injured so much; there is less friction. If 
a two inch wheel goes two inches deep, and a four inch wheel goes only 
one inch deep, there is two to one difference in the friction, for the ascent 
in getting up out of a two inch rut requires a great deal more friction. The 
wider the wheels, in my opinion, though the greater extent the less friction; 
they use wide wheels to go over soft ground on farms to prevent their sink¬ 
ing; there is a great friction, for it is always going down hill, and the friction 
is pulling it up hill. There is a power thrown away, but that would not have 
been the case with a wider wheel. 

Do you think for a greater weight with a great velocity of carriage, you 
could put wheels so wide that, instead of doing injury, they should do good 
to the road? Yes; I think if the wheels had been as wide as they ought to 
have been to take the advantage of ease, they would rather have done a 
service to the road than an injury, that is, to settle down the road; but the 
<rreatest folly I have ever seen is the wide wagon wheels which go free of 
turnpike duty: one part is nine feet round and the other part not above se¬ 
ven and a half or eight feet, one part is going faster than the other, and the 
one part must rub; had the wheel been upright, and it was turned off, the 
point only would meet, but it would not be rubbing. 

v There is a particular width of wheel in which no injury will be done 
to the road, but rather good? It will be rather good after the road has been 
mended to settle it down; there will be wear in it as at other times; but in 




72 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

certain states of the roads, to settle them down, they will doing good, but at 
no state of the road could it do good with narrow wheels. 

What would be*the effect when the rold was once settled? You see very 
often roads which have been gravelled; in dry weather the dust blows away ; 
they can never settle again, but if the broad wheels passed over to crush it 
over with the dust, it would settle down much firmer; but the narrow wheels 
slide so easy through, that they sink down, and shove them on each side. 

Is there any state of the road in which you think a wide wheel would do 
injury to the road? No; there is no state of the road in which wide wheels 
will do an injury; if there was to be a wheel of an inch in diameter instead 
of six inches, it would be like a stamping wheel cutting the road constant¬ 
ly, but the width of the wheel takes off that: the tenacity of stone is equal 
to the weight. 

Does not the whole of this refer to wheels that are cylindrical and tire 
axles horizontal? Yes, they ought to be straight; that is, the very wheel 
which I want for a steam carriage with straight axles. 

Is not the road injured in two ways by the wear of it, and by the separa¬ 
tion of the materials? The separation of the materials is not so likely to 
takes place with wide wheels as with narrow. 

That is the reason why narrow wheels injure the roads more than wide 
wheels? Yes; and there is a much greater weight upon one pebble than is 
thrown on two or three; double the weight is thrown on one pebble than 
Would otherwise be; then that pebble Is crushed; for the stone does not bear 
strongly enough together to resist it. 

For this reason, the operation of horses’ shoes must be much more inju¬ 
rious than that of broad wheels? Yes; they are more likely to break the 
hard stones than a dead weight. I think the horses’ feet much more like* 

*y- . ... 

There are certain states of the roads in which the widths of the wheel 
would occasion your losing power, are there not? No, I think not, I have 
heard that mentioned, but I think it is not so. 

Is there any slipping or sliding in the wheel of the steam carriage? When 
the trial for the premium given on the Manchester railway was decided, the 
engines ran for a certain time, and the strokes were counted, and the dis¬ 
tance was measured, and there were remarks made upon that day’s peform- 
ance: they found, by measuring the periphery of the wheel, the number of 
the strokes made, and the distance run, that there was not the least variation 
whatever: they could find no difference. 

Was not that on a railroad? Yes. 

The cylindrical wheel, with the horizontal axle, is the best for the road? 
Yes. . 

Is there not much less likelihood to slip on a common road, than on an 
iron railroad? Yes. 

Suppose there are sharp ascents upon a common road, how would that ap¬ 
ply? There is no ascent that any common carriages go over, where thu 
steam carriage will not go down the hill with one wheel chained; no road 
in the neighborhood of London that they would not run down with one 
wheel chained; that is, only one quarter part of the weight of the carriage, 
if the wheel is chained. If you are drawing up hill with two or four wheels 
driven by an engine, by their all turning round, they are as likely to go up 
hill. One wheel ought to put it up hill. It will go up a hill of double that 
ascent without slipping. 


73 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Will the increasing breadth of the wheel render slipping in ascending a 
hill more or less likely to take place? I rather think that will increase the 
friction, because that does not tend to make a rut. In making a rut, there is 
a very great difficulty in the wheel getting out of that rut, for there is no 
footing; but where it does not sink, that is not the case. 

Supposing the width of the wheel to be the same on a carriage and a 
steam engine, and the weight of the carriage the same, do you consider that 
a wheel perfectly cylindrical, with a horizontal axle, preferable to a wheel 
dished like that of a common stage coach, with a common axle? You can¬ 
not have a dished wheel to a great width, without its dragging as I have 
described, unless you alter the system. If you keep the present dish, you 
must have a narrow wheel, or it is rubbing; but if it is a straight axle, it 
ought to be as wide as that where there is no more friction, and then the 
wide wheel will not do half the mischief that the coach-wheel does. The 
present stage coach-wheel will do a great deal more mischief, working as it 
does, than if it had been perpendicular. 

Are you to be understood that, in no state of the road, a wide wheel such 
as you have described would do injury to the road? A wide wheel will do 
a partial injury, but not one quarter of that which it would do if it were 
narrow. 

What sort of injury will it do? It will tend to crush the pebbles and 
wear them, but that will be very trifling indeed; if you have a hundred 
weight upon a wheel of an inch wide, and a hundred weight upon a wheel of 
two inches wide, that one of an inch wide will break ten times as many 
pebbles as the other; every inch it goes will break stones; a wide wheel 
does away the injury. 

You are aware that in the carriages that run at present on the common 
roads, the wheels do not run in the same track—in the event of having wheels 
with the tires four inches wide, do you think it would be better that 
the tire of the hind wheels should run in the same track or a different track? 
For the carriage making one turn only, it is easier for the wheels to go on 
the same track; but if you wish to take the average of the duty, they never 
ought to go in one track. 

ypou think, in the steam carriages, that the tire of the hind wheels should 
go in different tracks? Yes; the one produces a burr, and the other smoothes 
it down. 

Will the carriage run so easy? No; it would for one turn; but, in the 
course of time, going every day backwards and forwards, the work will be 
done easier. 

You think the tire may be extended to almost any width: whajt is the 
width which you think a steam engine travelling rapidly ought to have? It 
depends upon the weight they have to carry; but if you draw a conclu¬ 
sion from the coaches carrying four tons on two inch wheels, you might, 
with a great deal of convenience to the engine, makie them six; but a six 
inch wheel would not break one-tenth part of the stones which a two inch 
would. 

You see no objection to a steam carriage, intended to travel fast, with 
passengers, which may weigh as much as a coach and four with its horses, 
having a six inch tire? No; I know it is condemned by people in general; 
but 1 have never heard, nor have I seen, any reasons for its being condemn¬ 
ed. 

The wheels being wide and being cylindrical, with their axle horizontal, 
10 




74 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

supposing you were to double the diameter, or to increase the diameter con¬ 
siderably of a wheel six inches wide, would it go more easily for the road? 
It would go easier for the machine; but then there must be a wheel of dou¬ 
ble the width, and that would be loading the machine in going up hill with 
an unnecessary weight; but that would ease the road; it will have a longer 
bearing on the ground; there would not be so quick a circle. 

With respect to the road, there would be a considerable advantage? Yes, 
for it is a larger arch. 

With respect to the engine, would there be any other disadvantage but 
the additional weight? No; I do not know any material objection except 
that, and that would throw the engine very high; it would be top heavy. 

I do not think it would be convenient to make wheels above six feet. . 

Can you state the weight of your engine as compared with the weight of 
the present engine? I will furnish an answer to that question. 

Do you conceive that your engine, of which you have produced a plan, 
is as applicable to carriages on roads as to the propelling engines at sea? 
Yes, that is one object I have in view, and for agricultural purposes, for 
ploughing, and every other purpose. 

Have you ever calculated what the weight of a carriage would be with 
one of your engines? Yes; I am looking to see the necessity of the doing 
away with the supply of water that I have done away with; but, in dispen¬ 
sing with the water, I shall save three-quarters of the fuel; every time we 
double the force of steam we save seventy-five per cent, upon it. This en¬ 
gine, I conceive, will not take one quarter part of the fuel; one charge of 
water will do for a month. I have just taken out a patent for my engine. 

Do you condense with a sufficient rapidity to take from the piston the pres¬ 
sure of the returning steam? Yes; there was an engine which had been 
working with high steam and one of my boilers, and the cylinder was en¬ 
closed with brick work to keep off the external air: while I was abroad 
they took down the brick work, and set it at a distance from the cylinder 
of four or five inches, and turned the draught from the fire round the cy¬ 
linder to keep it off, and from that made more than sixty per cent, difference 
in the fuel; if the engine was doing forty millions to a bushel of coals be¬ 
fore, it then did sixty-three millions, and they burnt five bushels of coals to 
keep the cylinder hot. If they had put that under the boiler, it w r ould have 
done forty millions as before; but in putting in five bushels round the boiler, 
it did three hundred and fifty-six millions; then the difficulty was to know 
how it would make that difference. I could not at first make it out; howev¬ 
er it turned out afterwards how it was, and it was the steam; when coming 
in upon the piston, the cold sides of the cylinder took out a part of the 
heat; these are single engines; the steam is returned under the piston upon 
the engine going that stroke again. The cold sides of the cylinder caused a 
dew by the steam; the steam was expanded to full four times the space; by 
the time it had gone a quarter part it was shut; then it was expanded; it 
was entirely cooled by itself; but when it came to touch the cold sides of 
the cylinder, it hung about them like a dew. The moment there was a com¬ 
munication to the condenser, that instant it expanded, and it threw itself 
into a second ; the next stroke threw that heat again into the side 

of the cylinder, the weight of the cylinder was about six tons; if it had 
taken out one degree each time, that would have taken out more than the 
engine burnt There is a clear proof how quick cold will con¬ 

dense. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 75 

Are there not steam engines in which the cylinder is within the boiler? 
Yes; those are commonly used now in the high pressure steam engines. 

Have you ever considered what toll should be charged upon steam car¬ 
riages, assuming that a steam carriage of 40 cwt. is equal to four horses, 
and does no more damage than four horses would do upon a road? I should 
judge that there would be no need to fix them heavier than just to pay for 
repairing the road, whatever it may be; people are not to get their mainte¬ 
nance out of roads; and if the steam carriages do not injure the roads half as 
much as a common carriage, they should not pay half so much. 

You do not suppose that a steam carriage weighing four tons would do 
more injury than a horse carriage? A steam carriage with the same weight 
would do nothing like the same injury a3 a horse coach, for they have nar* 
row wheels and these have not; and there are no horses’ feet. 

Your opinion is, that there should not be a higher toll charged upon those 
steam carriages than upon a coach drawn by four horses? If the toll is 
charged according to the injury done to the road, it would be not more than 
half. 

Do you conceive there -would be any difficulty in applying steam carriages 
to the present roads with the present ascents? Under the present circum¬ 
stances there is a difficulty. It is a question whether it shall go over the road, 
for the weight is too great; but if the weight is done away, and three to one 
in power added, it will be possible to do it, and I have no doubt it will be 
effected on my principle. 

You think that the steam engines already prepared would go on the com¬ 
mon roads? They are between sinking and swimming at present, and I 
think they will swim: I think that the improvement is effected, and that 
they will do. 

Would it not lighten the weight of engines if you had fixed stationary 
engines to pump gas, fifty atmospheres for instance; and shift the vessel con¬ 
taining it at each stage? We do not want air or gas. 

Something that has a power to drive? A vessel that weighed that would 
be so heavy, it would not carry its own weight; the vessel it was compres¬ 
sed into would be of considerable weight; a cubic inch of water will fill a 
cubic foot. 

In the application of your power to a steam carriage, do you suppose there 
would be less danger of bursting than at present exists? Yes; this cannot 
burst; that is prevented. 

Have the goodness to state your reason? There are five separate cylin¬ 
ders, the one encircled in the other; and if the boiler, or Ihe inner circle 
burst, there are four other circles that might take the pressure, one after the 
other, before it can externally explode, which outer circles are never heat¬ 
ed; and the boiler can never be heated or low, because the steam that is 
made use of by the engines is returned every stroke into the boiler, and 
provided an engine is tight, it may work forever without a fresh supply of 
water. 

What height would the shaft be, as applied to your steam carriage? It 
does not require to be higher than a common steam carriage. 

Have the steam carriages that now ply on the roads a shaft? No; they 
get the fuel through a fire door, but it will answer best to fill through 
you get considerable advantage. In the first place you have a less boiler; 
by having a less boiler it is lighter; it is much stronger by getting a greater 


76 k [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

pressure; there is 75 per cent on the fuel. If you take the average of the 
advantages, it will save daily nearly ten to one on travelling engines. 

That will render it necessary to have a chimney in a steam carriage? A 
chimney is not necessary for the sake of draught if there is a forced draught. 
The engine of which I have produced a drawing, is made for a ship, where 
we are not bound to height, but five or six feet would be quite sufficient. 

Do you apprehend that, in your engine, there would be any noise from fric¬ 
tion, so as to alarm horses? No more than in any other engines; there is 
no more noise; whether the steam is generated in the same way or how it is 
conducted, makes no difference. 

With what would you work? With coke; thr?t would be the most con¬ 
venient. 

Do you think the road would suffer less damage from the carriage itself 
containing the engine conveying the passengers, or conducting another 
carriage intended to convey passengers? I think it better to have separate 
carriages for the roads, as well because there is less weight upon the 
wheels; The weight would be more equally divided on the four wheels; but 
there will be six wheels in a general way I think. The two fore wheels 
will bear very little weight. 

Might not a single truck wheel do for that? It would not be steady. 

Mercur 'd , 17° die Augusti , 1831. 

Mr. Richard Trevithick , again called in, and examined. 

Are there any additional observations you wish to make to the commit¬ 
tee?—There are. I was asked what 1 had performed, and what was my 
opinion as to whether steam power could be made useful on common roads 
in general, and the difference in effect between broad and narrow wheels on 
such roads, respecting their breaking up or settling down the surface, and 
what farther advantages I might expect from my late improved steam en- 
gine? In answer, I beg to say, in 1804 I invented and introduced the high- 
pressure steam and locomotive engines, and, also, in 1813, invented the iron 
tanks and buoys for his Majesty’s navy. In 1814, I was engaged by the 
Spanish Government to construct in England nine high-pressure steam en¬ 
gines, and a mint, with pump-work, and every thing complete for draining 
the great mines of Paseo, in Peru: they weighed 500 tons, in 20,000 pieces* 
the boilers each of six tons weight, all in single plates, and the cylinders 
each in six pieces, all carried up the mountains on mules’ backs, and put to¬ 
gether on the spot, by which the mines were effectually drained, the ores 
wound up, stamped, smelted and coined; they remained in full work until 
the Spanish army retreated through the mines before the patriots, and, on 
their retreat broke the engines, and threw them into the engine pits. 
For a .report of my progress in Peru, see the first, number of the- 
Geological transactions of Cornwall, copied from the Lima Gazettes. In 
reply to the questions put to me by the committee of the House of 
Commons, respecting the probable process of steam power for loco¬ 
motive purposes, I beg to say, on railroads, they have been proved to 
be useful to a certain extent, but are still defective, on account of their 
great weight of machinery and water, and the difficulty of getting water at 
all times, also a want of permanent safety against explosion; but, from a 


77 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

a late improvement of mine, these obstacles are now Removed, and when 
these late improvements are combined with my former locomotive engines, 
they can be constructed so light as to travel at almost any speed, and thou¬ 
sands of miles, without a supply of water, and the risk of exploding is re¬ 
duced to an impossibility, with a saving of considerably above fifty per cent, 
in fuel; ail those improvements will appear in my statement hereafter. Tra¬ 
velling on common turnpike roads would be by far the greatest national ad¬ 
vantage, but which, on the present plan, never can be accomplished, be* 
cause the difficulties of getting a supply of water, and the inequalities of the 
surface of the roads, will always, under these circumstances, prevent the 
limited power to ascend the hills; and this objection is irremovable, because, as 
the power at present increases, the weight increases in nearly the same ratio. 
At the present moment, we have a proof of this, from the engines travelling on 
common level roads being as nearly as possible in equilibrium, their power 
just capable running their own weight at a fair speed on a level surface; 
and they now only wait an increase of their power, independent of weight, 
to accomplish their general adaption to every purpose, both on the road and 
also to agriculture; and as the expense of fuel bears so small a proportion to 
horse labor, the removal of the present objections would accommodate their 
general use to unlimited advantages that the public are anxiously in search 
of. As the axles of steam carriages require to be straight, and the wheels 
perpendicular, there remains no objection to employing any width of wheel 
that the road inspectors require, which, to a certain extent, will reduce the 
resistance, instead of increasing it. It is my opinion, that all wheels now 
in use on common roads are much too narrow; but this ought to be accom¬ 
modated to the materials that the road is formed with: for instance, narrow 
wheels on an iron road do not yield to the pressure of the weight, but keep 
themselves perfectly horizontal, and do not pulverize; but every Macadamized 
road, more or less, is subject to this inconvenience, and the narrower the 
wheels, the greater mischief is done to the road, and more resistance is 
given to the horses. The usual notion, that wheels grind the road, is wrong; 
if any difference, it is the roads grind the wheels, the road-material being 
generally the harder of the two; but the roads are injured by the wheels 
crushing the stone, by a narrow surface bearing on small points, or on sin¬ 
gle stones, the tenacity of which will not support the weight under narrow 
wheels: under wide ones, they would sustain no injury, because the wide 
wheel reduces its weight on each inch of surface in contact with the road, as 
the number ol surface inches is increased by its additional width, and settles 
down the road firmly, and gives each stone a side support also ; Therefore, by 
double the bearing on the road, half the weight is taken off from every bear¬ 
ing surface inch; and that, in addition to the side support, by being bedded 
firmly, a wide wheel will, I have no doubt, save four out of five, if not nine 
out of ten stones that are crushed at present, and reduce the road expenses 
in the same proportion; but while the fancy of having carriage-wheels out of 
upright with crooked axles is continued, wide wheels would be a serious ob 
jection. The inside and outside of the wheel being of different diameters, and 
going different speeds, must cause an increase of load- to the horses, because 
their rubbing on the road and tendency to twist move the stones out of their 
bed in the road, and, instead of bedding them firmly, has the contrary ef¬ 
fect. Another great evil arises from the use of narrow wheels: they sink 
lower into the road, and the road being in part elastic, whatever that may 
be, is a resistance added to the horses according to its perpendicular rise and 


78 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

fall. The passing dver sand or snow gives a proof of this on a larger scale, 
and wide surfaces will bed snow, and form a firm road, wVule narrow sur¬ 
faces would defeat the effect. Another proof of wide surfaces bedding firm¬ 
ly is seen in Cornwall, where the mills for stamping the ores in the mines 
have steam engines in constant work, lifting twelve inches high iron stam¬ 
pers of three or four hundred weight, of about seventy inches of bearing: at 
the bottom surface these form their own bed, which is about a foot thick of 
Macadamized stones, and are an everlasting foundation, though the stamps 
pulverize at the surface as fine as sand. It would be advisable for the fore 
and hind wheels of carriages to run about half the track out of a line from 
each other, because the bank that is formed by the fore wheel would be re¬ 
bedded by the hind one, and the leveller the road is kept, the less the jolts, 
and of course the shoaler will be the ruts, while the surface of the road re¬ 
mains sound, and even the wear is scarcely any thing, and the crushing 
cannot take place but in a very small degree; because the small gravel, bind¬ 
ing uniformly with the larger stones, supported on every side, brings the 
whole surface into uniform contact with the wheel, in which state but very 
little injury can be done; but when uneven or broken, the loose stones roll 
about without a support, and kept so by narrow wheels, they independently 
receive the whole weight of the wheel, and, instead of being bedded down, 
are crushed to powder. The unnecessary resistance given to carriages and 
wear of roads by narrow wheels, far exceeds all conception. Asa proof,that 
locomotive wheels will not injure the roads by slipping round, I give you 
the copy of a report printed on the performance of the locomotive engines 
on the Manchester road for the premium. The following calculation, foun- 
ed on the reported result, was made by Mr. Vignoles and Mr. Price, of 
Neath Abbey. The maximum number of strokes was 142 per minute, 
while 440 yards were traversed in 43 seconds; diameters of wheels 50.1 
inches, circumference 157.4inches; 157.4-fl42 inches, equal to 621 yards, 
being the velocity per minute of the circumference of the wheel, or 21 miles 
and 300 yards per hour: then as 60 seconds is to 621 yards, so is 43 seconds 
to 445 yards. Thus, the calculated distance of the run, considering the 
wheel as a perambulator, agrees within five yards with the space actually 
passed over, and this difference might arise from the most trifling inaccura* 
cy, of noting the time, a quarter of a second at each end being sufficient to 
produce this discrepancy, so that it might fairly be concluded there was no 
slipping of the wheels at a velocity of nearly 22 miles an hour with a load. 
If wheels will not slip round on iron roads, there can be no doubt but that 
they will be firm on common roads. A steam carriage nqver needs the 
wheel chained, or to be still in going down hill, because, if a throttle cock is 
put between the discharge pipe and the piston, it cannot go down hill any 
faster than the steam is permitted to make its escape from before the piston, 
and, if required, would stand .still intstantly. Below is stated the commence¬ 
ment of both my high pressure and locomotive steam engines, with the ad¬ 
vantages derived from them. Since 1804, at which time I invented and 
erected this high pressure engine, up to the present time, little improve¬ 
ment has been made in addition to my own. The first locomotive engine 
ever seen was one that I set to work in 1804, on a railroad at Merthyr 
Tydvil, in Wales, which performed its work to admiration, a correct copy 
of which is now in general use on the railroad. The advantages gained by 
this improvement was a detached engine, independent of all fixtures, work¬ 
ing with five times the power of Boulton and Watt’s engine, without con- 


79 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

densing water, and the fire enclosed in the boiler surrounded with water, 
and a forced draught created by the steam for the purpose of working on 
the roads without a high chimney; and from this was copied all the boilers 
for navigation engines, which, without it, could not have been available; 
this being independent of brick work, light, safe from fire, and occupying 
little room. In March, 1830, Davies Gilbert, esquire, then president of the 
Royal Society, wrote a treatise on the improvement made in the efficiency 
of the largest steam engines in the world, then working in Cornwall, ii> 
which he states, that, in 179S, he made trial of Boulton and Watt’s engines 
in that county, and found the average duty performed in the mines was 
17,621,000 lbs. lifted one foot high with one bushel of coals; and, in 1S30, 
when he published his treaise on the improvement of the steam engines in 
the Cornish mines, he says, that the improvement was so great that a duty 
of 75,628,000 lbs. lifted one foot high, with the same quantity of coals, 
was then performing in the mines; that when compared with the duty done 
in 1795, the improvement exceeded Boulton and Watt’s engines, as 3.S65 to 1, 
or 27 to 7 nearly; and exceeded the standard of the old atmospheric engines, 
that were at work in 1778, as 10.75 to 1, (at present some of the best en¬ 
gines have performed a duty of 90 millions with a bushel of coals,) and the 
result of this great improvement has been, that not one engine on Boulton 
and Watt’s plan remains at work in Cornwall; and it is acknowledged by 
all the Cornish miners that this improvement solely has been the salvation 
of their deep and extensive mines, without which the mines could not have 
continued to work; but, from this increase of power and speed, a duty and 
saving both in fuel and size of four to one, which has caused the saving of 
coals in the Cornish mines alone to exceed one million sterling, and a con¬ 
stant saving of above one hundred thousand pounds per year. The saving 
of fuel in theory, by working with high steam, is 75 per cent, every 
time that the elasticity of the steam is doubled, because double the quantity 
of coals doubles the pressure, aud increases the bulk three-eighths, and by 
this steam r expansively three-eighths more are gained, and not only theory 
but practice proves that gain on all the Cornish engines. The usual height of 
steam is sixty pounds above the atmosphere, but if the boilers could be 
made safe against explosion and work with much higher steam, the advan¬ 
tages would almost exceed limit. The accidents that have taken place by ex¬ 
plosion, do not appear to be from overloading the safety-valve, but from 
overheating the boiler, because low pressure boilers have often exploded, 
and this generally takes place immediately on setting the engine to work. 
When the boiler is under water guage it must be red hot, and while the en¬ 
gine is standing, the water in the boiler is still, but the moment that the en¬ 
gine starts, the sudden escape of steam from the boiler to the cylinder 
causes a great ebullition of the water, and splashes it over the red hot sides, 
which instantaneously generates a superabundant quantity of steam more 
than the strength of any boiler, however strong, can sustain; because one 
pound of melting iron will boil three pounds of water, therefore the red hot 
tubes of a boiler, to be suddenly cooled by water splashing over them, would 
immediately generate a hundred # times as much steam as the space of the 
boiler would contain: therefore, while the feed is so uncertain, and the height 
of water fluctuates so much in the boiler, no permanent safety can be relied 
on, however light the safety-valve may be loaded, or strong the boiler may 
be. Boilers fed with salt or even foul water are dangerous; they are often 
incrusted with salt, repeatedly heated «red hot, and quickly reduced in sub- 


80 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

stance and strength. To prevent the salt accumulating, a constant stream 
of boiling water is ejected from, and cold water in its stead injected into the 
boiler, which occasions a constant fluctuation in the height of water in the 
boiler, and requires a constant caution in the engineer to prevent mischief. 
A proof that boilers do not explode from the regular working pressure of 
steam, is by the portable gasholders of one-sixteenth of an inch thick and 
ten inches diameter being regularly charged with thirty atmospheres, or 450 
pounds to the inch, without accident: and though this pressure is not one- 
half the pressure that the theory of the strength of iron would bear, yet 
boilers have often exploded, though the safety-valves have never been loaded 
with one-eighth part of the pressure of the gasholders, or one-sixteenth of the 
pressure of the theory of the strength of iron in proportion to the strength and 
diameter of boilers, when compared with gas holders; therefore, perfect 
safety never can be relied on under the present regulations. To remove 
these serious evils, save fuel, and give a considerable increase in the pow¬ 
er of engines with less space and weight, I have made an entire new 
engine, both in principle and arrangements. The fire-place, boiler and conden¬ 
ser are formed of six wrought iron tubes standing perpendicular on their ends, 
encircled the one within the other for the purpose of safety, and to occupy 
little room, also for keeping the boiler to one constant gauge, with fine distill¬ 
ed water, permanently working without loss, by condensing the steam and 
never suffering it to escape out of the engine, but returning it from the con¬ 
denser back again into the boiler every stroke of the engine by a force 
pump; and where an engine is perfectly tight, it would work for ever with¬ 
out a replenish of water. But, to supply, leaks a small evaporating apparatus 
is used for supplying the deficiency with distilled water, which effectually 
prevents any fluctuation in the height of water in a boiler or collecting sedi¬ 
ment, and an impossibility of ever getting the boiler red hot, there being no 
space for the water to fly to out of the boiler but into the condenser: and this is 
so small, that if, by any means, the force pump did not return the water regu¬ 
larly from the condenser to the boiler, the space in the condenser, by taking 
one inch in depth of water out of the boiler, would fill and glut the condenser 
so, that the engine would stand still, and, as the water cannot diminish, it does 
not requre a large quantity of water, or water space in the boiler, so neces¬ 
sary in other engines, to guard against fluctuation in the feed, and prevent the 
boiler becoming red hot. The boiler being considerably less, the strength 
and room will be increased, and, never getting hot, the engine might be 
worked with much higher steam; if so high as the gas-holders are charged 
with, the theory gives a saving of fuel, weight and room, over low pres- 
snre engines of sixteen to one, without a supply of water. 1 state this to 
show the probable advantages that will arise from this new engine. For 
my engine to be one hundred horse power, to raise sufficient steam, the fire 
tube must be three feet diameter, which would give the boiler a diameter of 
three feet eight inches; and that a half inch thick, according to the theory 
of the strength of iron, would sustain a pressure of 1,736 pounds to the inch, 
which is four times as great as the gas-holders are charged with, and thir¬ 
ty-two times the pressure that the high pressure engines work with at 
present, which is still farther proof that the explosions have been solely oc¬ 
casioned by the boilers being under water gauge, and heated red hot. If, 
after boilers have been forced on their trial by cold water pressure, to stand 
ten times the pressure that they are to be worked at, and a boiler should 
happen to explode, the shock would be first received by the next surrounding 


81 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

tube, and so on for six successive surrounding tubes; each space between the 
tubes would admit the steam to escape gently up the chimney without harm, 
and the outside tube that encircles the whole, might be made of three quarters 
of an inch thick, so that it would put injury from explosion beyond possi¬ 
bility, The arrangement of this new engine embraces every advantage that 
can be wished for; safety, saving of fuel, lightness, little room, cheapness, 
simplicity, and nearly independent of water, it can be made applicable to 
any purpose, and, much more effectual than horse power, the first cost of 
,erection far less than a quarter the cost of horses, for the duty performed, 
independent of the difference of expense between coals and horse feed, because 
a one horse engine will, by constant work, perform the work of four horses eve - 
ry twenty-four hours. For breaking up and tilling large commons, very little 
establishment will be required. Another great national advantage wilt be 
gained, by the whole of the kingdom being abundantly supplied with fresh 
fish, as it will be in the power of every fishing-boat to get a small engine, 
and bring fish to market all round the coast while fresh, independent of 
wind: this may be carried by locomotive engines, in a few hours, to the in¬ 
terior of the country. Besides, every merchant ship will be propelled by 
steam, as an engine of ten tons weight on the deck, occupying very little 
more room than a ton cask, would propel a ship of 500 tons five miles per 
hour with sixpence worth of coals, and will also pump the ship, weigh the 
anchor, and take in and out the cargo. The principles of the leading pow¬ 
er being matured, all the applications will soon follow. 

Davies Gilbert , esquire, a member of the committee, examined. 

Have you paid any attention to the general nature and advantages of wheels 
and springs for carriages, the draughts of cattle and the form of roads? I paid 
considerable attention to it during the sitting of the committee of this House 
about twenty years ago, of which Sir John Sinclair was chairman; and I 
then drew up some observations on the nature of wheels and springs on 
roads, which, with some alterations, I printed in the eighteenth volume of 
the Journal of Sciences, and which I would beg to deliver into the commit¬ 
tee as the result of my observations on the subject. 

[ The same was read as follows:'] 

“ Taking wheels completely in the abstract, they must be considered as 
answering two different purposes. 

“First, they transfer the friction which would take place between a slid¬ 
ing body and the comparatively rough uneven surface over which it slides, 
to the smooth oiled peripheries of the axis and box, where the absolute 
quantity of the friction as opposing resistance is also diminished by lever¬ 
age, in the proportion of the wheel to that of the axis. 

“Secondly, they procure mechanical advantage for overcoming obstacles 
in proportion to the square roots of their diameters, when the obstacles are 
relatively small, by increasing the time in that ratio, during which the 
wheel ascends; and they pass over small transverse ruts, hollows or pits, 
with an absolute advantage of not sinking, proportionate to their diameters, 
and with a mechanical one as before, proportionate to the square roots of 
their diameters: consequently, wheels thus considered, cannot be too large; in 
practice, however the are limited by weight, by expense, and by convenience. 

“ With reference to the preservation of roads, wheels should be made 
wide, and so constructed as to allow of the whole breadth bearing at once; 
and every portion in contact with the ground should roll on it without the 
least dragging or slide; but, it is evident from the well known properties of 
11 


82 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

the cycloid, that the above conditions cannot unite unless the roads are per¬ 
fectly hard, smooth and flat; and, unless the fellies of the wheels, with their 
tiers, are accurately portions of a cylinder. These forms, therefore, of roads 
and of wheels, are the models towards which they should always approxi¬ 
mate. 

“ Roads were heretofore made with a transverse curvature to throw off 
water, and, in that case, it seems evident that the peripheries of the wheels 
should, in their transverse sections, become tangents to this curve, from 
whence arose the necessity for dishing wheels, and for bending the axes, 
which contrivances gave some incidental advantage for turning, for protect¬ 
ing the nave, and by affording room for increased stowage above. But re¬ 
cent experience having proved that the curved form of roads is wholly in¬ 
adequate for obtaining the end proposed, since the smallest rut intercepts 
the lateral flow of the water; and that the barrel shape confines carriages to 
the middle of the way, and thereby occasions these very ruts; roads are 
now laid flat, carriages drive different over every part, the wear is uni¬ 
form, and not even the appearance of a longitudinal furrow is to be seem 
It may, therefore, confidently be hoped that wheels approaching to the 
cylindrical form will soon find their way into general use. 

“The line of traction is mechanically best disposed when it lies exactly 
parallel to the direction of motion, and its power is diminished at any in¬ 
clination of that line in the proportions of the cosine of the angle to ra¬ 
dius. When obstacles frequently occur, it had better perhaps receive a small 
inclination upwards, for the purpose of acting with most advantage when 
those are to be overcome. But it is probable that different animals exert 
their strengths most advantageously in different directions, and therefore 
practice alone can determine what precise inclination of this line is best 
adapted to horses, and what to oxen. These considerations are, however, 
only applicable to cattle drawing immediately at the carriage; and the con¬ 
venience of this draft, as connected with the insertion of the line of traction 
which continued, ought to pass though the axis of the wheels, introduces 
another limit to their seize. 

“Springs were in all likelihood applied at first to carriages, with no other 
view than to accommodate travellers. They have since been found to an¬ 
swer several important ends. They convert all percursion into mere in¬ 
crease of pressure; that is, the collision of two hard bodies is changed by the 
interposition of one that is elastic, into a mere accession of weight. Thus 
the carriage is preserved from injury, and the materials of the road are not 
broken: and, in surmounting obstacles, instead ofthe whole carriage with its 
load being lifted over, the springs allow the wheels to raise, while the 
weights suspended upon them are scarcely moved from the horizontal level. 
So that, if the whole of the weight could be supported on the springs, and 
all the other parts supposed to be devoid of inertia, while the springs them¬ 
selves were very long, and extremely flexible, this consequence would clear¬ 
ly follow, however much it may wear the appearance of a paradox, that such 
a carriage may be drawn over a road abounding in small obstacles without 
agitation, and without any material addition being made to the moving 
power or draft. It seems, therefore, probable, that, under certain modifica¬ 
tions of form and material, springs may be applied with advantage to the 
very heaviest wagons, and consequently, if any fiscal regulations exist, 
either in regard to the public revenue or to local taxation, tending to dis¬ 
courage the use of springs, they should forthwith be removed. 


83 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“Although the smoothness of roads, and the application of springs are 
beneficial to'all carriages, and to all rates of travelling, yet they are eminent¬ 
ly so in cases of swift conveyance, since obstacles, when springs are not inter¬ 
posed, require an additional force to surmount them beyond the regular 
draft, equal to the weight of the load multiplied by the sine of the angle In¬ 
tercepted on the periphery of the wheel between the points in contact with 
the ground and with the obstacle, and therefore proportionate to the square 
of fb-hefght; and a still further force, many times greater than the former 
when the velocity is considerable, to overcome the inertia, and this increases 
with the height of the obstacle, and with the rapidity of the motion both 
squared. But, when springs are used, this latter part, by far the most im¬ 
portant, almost entirely disappears, and their beneficial effects, in obviating 
the injuries of percussion, are proportionate also to the velocities squared. 

“The advantages consequent to the draft, from suspending heavy baggage 
on the springs, were first generally perceived about forty years since on the 
introduction of mail coaches; then baskets and boots were removed, and 
their contents were heaped on the top of the carriage. The accidental cir¬ 
cumstance, however, of the weight being thus placed at a considerable ele¬ 
vation, gave occasion to a prejudice, the cause of innumerable accidents, 
and which has not, up to the present time, entirely lost its influence; yet 
moment’s consideration must be sufficient to convince any one, that, when 
the body of a carriage is attached to certain given points, no other effect can 
possibly be produced by raising or by depressing the weight within it, than 
to create a greater or less tendency to overturn.” 

The extensive use of wagons suspended on springs, for conveying heavy 
articles, introduced within these two or three last years, will form an epoch 
in the history of internal land communication not much inferior perhaps in 
importance to that when mail coaches were first adopted; and the extension 
of vans, in so short a time, to places the most remote from the Metropolis, 
induces a hope and expectation that, as roads improve, the means of preserv¬ 
ing them will improve also, possibly in an equal degree; so that perman¬ 
ence and consequent cheapness, in addition to facility of conveyance, will 
be distinguished features of the Macadam system. 

I have made some further remarks, which I would beg to deliver in also, 
tending to point out particularly the advantage of steam conveyance when 
the rate of travelling is great; I would beg to add, that it appears to me 
extremely difficult to lay down any general rule which would be applicable 
to all situations and all roads, inasmuch as they vary with the nature of the 
materials; that up to a certain weight, proportionate to the corresponding 
width of the wheel, it is probable that the injury to any road may be very 
little, but that beyond a certain weight, compared again with a correspond¬ 
ing breadth of the wheels, the materials would be entirely crushed, and the 
road totally destroyed. Therefore it follows, that even on all roads there 
must be a limit to the weight of carriages, as it is quite impossible that a 
wheel of enormous breadth could bear uniformly, on all its surface. For 
instance, where trains of artillery are drawn over roads, the excess of their 
weight beyond what materials are capable of sustaining, has been found 
sufficient for grinding them to powder. “ The slow conveyance of heavy 
weights may perhaps be effected by steam on well-made and nearly level 
roads, so as to supersede the use of horses; but steam power is eminently 
useful for producing great velocities. It was last year determined by the 
Society of Civil Engineers, after much inquiry and discussion, that the 


84 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

expense of conveying carriages drawn by horses was at its minimum 
when the rate of travelling equalled about three miles an hour, and that ex¬ 
pense increased up to the practical limit of speed, nearly as the velocity; 
including the greater price of horses adapted to swift driving, their increased 
feed and attendance, the reduced length of their stages, and, with every 
precaution, the short period of their services. On the contrary, friction 
being a given quantity as well as the force requisite for impelling a given 
weight up a given ascent, the power required for moving steam carriages 
on a railway remains theoretically independent of its speed, and practically 
increases but a very little, in consequence of resistances from the atmos¬ 
phere, slight impacts against the wheels, inertia of the reciprocating pis¬ 
ton, &c. The expenditure of what I have termed efficiency, is, as actual 
force, multiplied by velocity, and the consumption of fuel in a given time 
will be in the same proportion, but the time of performing a given distance 
being inversely as the velocity, the expenditure of fuel will theoretically 
be constant for a given distance, and very nearly so in practice. The pow¬ 
er requisite for moving bodies through water is in the opposite extreme; 
here, the mechanical resistance of the fluid increases with the square of the 
velocity, as do the elevation of the water at the prow, and its depression at 
the stern. The oars or paddles must therefore preserve a constant ratio to 
the velocity of the vessel; and the force applied will consequently vary as 
the squares of the velocity; and the expenditure of efficiency being as the 
force multiplied by the velocity; the consumption of fuel will be as the 
cube of the velocity in a given time, or as the square of the velocity on a given 
space; and I have ascertained from the records of voyages performed by steam 
vessels, that the law is nearly correct in practice: hence the great power 
required for such steam vessels as are constructed not merely for speed, but 
also to set at defiance the opposition of winds and seas; while, on the 
contrary, a very small power will be found sufficient for moving ships 
of the largest dimensions through the water, at the rate of two or three miles 
an hour, when their sails are rendered useless by continued calms.” 

Mr. Nathaniel Ogle , called in, and examined. 

What is your profession? I have no profession; I am pursuing the intro¬ 
duction of locomotive engines on common roads. 

Have you invented any carriage of this description actually now in prac¬ 
tice? Yes, partly so. 

Have you run your carriage for any length of time on public roads? About 
S00 miles, or rather more, over roads of various descriptions, and up lofty 
hills. 

Will you describe, generally, the nature of your carriage, and of any im¬ 
provements you have made since you first turned your attention to the sub¬ 
ject? The object in all locomotive vehicles is to obtain a mode of genera¬ 
ting steam that shall give the command of a sufficient power, under all va¬ 
rying circumstances to be met with on the common roads. We have ob¬ 
tained that desideratum, by combining the greatest heating surface in the 
least possible space, with the strongest mechanical force, so that we work 
our present boiler at 250 lbs. pressure of steam on the inch, with the most 
perfect safety. Our experimental vehicle, weighing about three tons, or 
rather more, we have propelled from London to Southampton, and on the 
roads in the vicinity of Millbrook, at various speeds. The greatest veloci¬ 
ty we obtained, over rather a wet road, with patches of gravel upon it, was 


85 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

between 32 and 35 miles an hour, and might have been continued under 
similar circumstances, and we could, on a good road, have increased that 
velocity to 40 miles. We have ascended a hill with a soft wet bottom, 
rising one foot in six, at rather a slow rate. We have ascended one of the 
loftiest hills in the district near Southampton, at 16i miles an hour. We 
have gone from the turnpike gate at Southampton to the four mile stone 
on the London road, a continued elevation, with one very slight descent, at 
a rate of 24i miles an hour, loaded with people. The locomotive vehicles 
used on the Liverpool and Manchester railroad would not go at three miles 
an hour on a common level road, and would not ascend any hill; and on ac¬ 
count of the diameter of their boilers, cannot, scientifically speaking, be con¬ 
sidered safe. The vehicle is under perfect control in every respect. No 
accident from explosion can take place. We have had whole families of 
ladies, day after day, out with us in all directions, and who have the most 
perfect confidence. We are now upon the point of establishing a factory 
where these vehicles will be made in numbers; and a great many are already 
required by coach proprietors, carriers of merchandise, and others, for their 
use on the public roads. Railroads, excepting in very peculiar situations, 
are behind the age; and it. is my decided opinion, that those who embark 
capital in constructing them will be great losers. 

Will you describe the form of your boiler? The base of the boiler and 
the summit are composed of cross pieces, cylindrical within, and square 
without; there are holes bored through these cross pieces, and inserted 
through the hole is an air tube. The inner hole of the lower surface, 
and the under hole of the upper surface, are rather larger than the other 
ones. Round the air-tube is placed a small cylinder, the collar of which fits 
round the larger aperture on the inner surface of the lower frame, and the 
under surface of the* upper frame work. These are both drawn together 
by screws from the top; these cross pieces are united by connecting pieces, 
the whole strongly bolted together, so that we obtain in one-tenth of the 
space, and with one-tenth of the weight, the same heating surface and power 
as is now obtained in other and in low pressure boilers, with incalculably 
greater safety. Our present experimental boiler contains 250 superficial feet 
of heating surface in the space of 3 feet 8 inches high, 3 feet long, and 2 
feet 4 inches broad, and weighs about 800 weight. We supply the two 
cylinders with steam, communicating by their pistons with a crank axle, to 
the ends of which either one or both wheels are affixed as may be required. 
One wheel is found sufficient, excepting under very difficult circumstances, 
and when the elevation is about one foot in six, to impel the vehicle for¬ 
ward. 

Have you taken out a patent for this invention? We have, in the name 
of William Altoft Summers and Nathaniel Ogle. 

You state that the weight of that carriage is about three tons or more—is 
that independent of the necessary load? That will include the coke and 
the water, but not the passengers. 

Have you any peculiar means for rendering explosion impossible? Yes; 
the cylinders of which the boilers are composed are so small as to bear 
a greater pressure than could be produced by the quantity of fire be¬ 
neath the boiler, and if any one of these cylinders should be injured by 
violence, or any other way, it would become merely a safety valve to the 
rest. We never with the greatest pressure, even, burst, rent or injured our 
boilers, and have not once required cleaning after having been in use twelve 
months. 


86 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Is the connexion between your different cylinders so perfect, that there is 
no danger of the steam collecting in one particular point of it? There is a 
perfectly free communication, and not the least danger to be apprehended. 

Have you one or two safety-valves! Two. 

At what pressure do you usually work your carriage? Two hundred and 
forty-seven pounds on the square iqch of the boiler, but we have worked 
it at a greater pressure than that. 

To what pressure do you usually weight your safety-valve? Two hun¬ 
dred and forty-seven pounds. 

Then you travel always on the lift? Yes; we are always glad to see our 
steam blowing off, and when our fire is even moderately good, it is ahvays 
blowing off, even up the steepest hills, proving an excess of power. 

Does that create any annoyance to passengers along the road? None what¬ 
ever; the waste steam is carried round a double casing of the fire place, 
then brought over the surface of the fire where some portion is consumed, 
and the rest passes off through a very small chimney in an aeriform state. 

Do you use coal or coke? Soft and good coke which easily ignites and 
burns rapidly. 

You have not any annoyance then to passengers from smoke from your 
carriages? None, whatever; there is no appearance of smoke, except on light¬ 
ing the fire with wood, which is necessary to ignite the coke. 

That takes place before you start? Yes; but even that will not be neces. 
sary when every thing is arranged. 

You state that your carriage is under the most perfect control? Perfect. 

Supposing you were going at the rate of ten miles an hour on a level 
road, in what number of feet do you suppose you could entirely check the 
carriage? It would be difficult to state precisely the number of feet, but 
certainly in a less space than you could stop a pair of carriage horses going 
with the same weight attached to them. I have no hesitation in saying, that a 
steam vehicle is safer in every respect han one with horses, that it is under 
more complete management at the same velocities and with the same weight, 
that it is more easily controlled, and that none of the accidents from fractious 
horses can take place with steam carriages. 

Do you find that horses are generally frightened by passing your car- 
riage? Very few indeed; persons usually alarm their own horses (the ani¬ 
mal being quickly subject to alarm) either by dismounting or patting them, 
and thus anticipating apprehension. 

What rate of toll has been charged on your carriage in the neighborhood 
of Southampton? None, whatever. I have paid near London, when trying 
experiments, a shilling or two, and I made no inquiry. I remember going 
out of London, throwing one man a shilling, and another two, being too 
much occupied to trouble myself about the matter. 

You pass through turnpikes in travelling round Southampton? Yes. 

What, is the reason they have not charged you? I do not know, unless 
they had the good sense to see that we rather do g-ood to the road than injury. 

Do you know on what authority they levy tolls on carriages? I know of 
only two instances in which they have been levied on steam carriages, ono 
at Hammersmith bridge, and the other at Cambridge heath, near Hackney. 

If toll collectors at Southampton abstain from demanding tolls, is it not 
because they had not authority to demand them? I do not know their mo¬ 
tive. 

You think that the toll collector is so interested in the good state of the 
road, that he would abstain from demanding toll on that ground? I think 


87 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

that if they have contracted to keep the road in repair, they would be glad 
that steam vehicles should run upon that road in preference to carriages drawn 
by animals; because the wheels of steam carriages, if the tires are of a pro¬ 
per breadth, act as rollers. 

Do you know whether the toll collectors in general, contract for keeping 
the road in repair? I do not know. 

Do you know any instance of it? No, I do not. 

Have you heard any complaint by contractors of the injury done to roads 
from your carriages? No. 

Nor from the surveyors of roads? No. 

What is the breadth of the tires of your wheels? About three inches. 

Could you increase the tire of your wheels without inconvenience? Cer¬ 
tainly. 

To what breadth? With a given weight there might be given breadths; 
in my opinion a vehicle carrying four tons weight, the engine itself weigh¬ 
ing three tons, should have a tire about four inches and a half in breadth, a 
flat tire, not a round tire, and the wheels should be cylindrical. It is decid¬ 
edly to the interest of steam coach proprietors to have the tires broad, as the 
wheels have a diminished tendency of sinking into the road. 

Should they be increased according to the weights? Yes, but I do not 
think that we have knowledge enough to speak precisely on that subject, and 
to go into minute details as to the exact breadth which should bear a given 
weight. 

Taking either an increased or a diminished weight, what would be the 
increased or diminished breadth of wheels which you would recommend? 

I am not prepared to answer that minutely. 

Is it your opinion, that, in case they exceed three tons weight, that wheels, 
three inches wide, improve the road, passing with the velocity they do? 
Certainly; tlje velocity has nothing to do with the wear of the road. 

How many wheels have you? Our present carriages have only three, so 
that the centre wheel rolls that portion of the road which has been cut up 
by the action of the horses’ feet. 

Is it of the same breadth as the two hind ones? It is broader, being four 
inches and a half. 

Is the centre wheel a guiding wheel? It is. 

What portion of weight is upon that as compared with the others? That 
must vary a little, but generally about one-third. 

Is yours a coach? No, it is a treble-bodied phaeton. 

How many passengers have you carried when you have gone at the rates 
you have described? I think 1 have seen nineteen; weight is of no import¬ 
ance to a steamer. 

Taking the weight of your carriage, with the engine, at three tons, what 
weight do you suppose that you could carry at the rates you have spoken 
of? Between three and four tons, very well. 

Besides its own weight? Yes. 

Doubling its own weight? Yes; twenty people will weigh more than a 
ton and a half. 

For what distance do you travel without taking in water?—We can in¬ 
crease our capability to a great extent; at present, we carry about seven hun¬ 
dred weight of water; it lasts about fourty minutes; that depends on the 
quality of the road. 

How much coke? The quantity we carry is according to the distance we 
wish to go. x 


88 


'[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

What weight of fuel would you think it necessary to take in, to go one 
of your averages stages? Three bushels. 

How much does a bushel weigh? That is difficult to answer, coke differs 
in its weight; the average weight is about forty pounds a bushel. 

What proportion of injury do you think one of your steam carriages does 
to the road in comparison with the injury done by a coach drawn by horses 
proceeding with the same velocity? Not one half; first of all they receive no 
injury from the feet of the horses; a horse must have something to hold by, 
and the action of a horse's foot is to scrape and dig up the ground. Vehicles 
drawn by horses of equal weight, have usually narrower wheels, which 
must increase the injury done to the road. 

Are your wheels dished, or are they cylindrical? Cylindrical, with flat 
tires. 

What are the diameters of your propelling wheels? We have generally 
used them about six feet; those we have now are about five feet six. 

Have you changed the diameters from experiment, from finding the smal- 
ler diameter more convenient? From finding some wheels with the spokes 
cut through, whether intentionally by the workmen, or from mere neglect, 
we could not tell; but they were merely reduced from six feet to five feet 
six. 

For a carriage calculated to carry eighteen persons, what would be the 
length, and what the breadth? I think that our next will measure eighteen 
feet six; that is not so long as a carriage with two horses: the breadth six 
feet nine inches between the wheels. 

During the course of your experience, have you met with any accident, 
such as the breaking of your machinery? None whatever of any de¬ 
nomination; not one bolt, not one screw has ever given way, during a period 
of twelve months, and under circumstances which would have utterly de¬ 
stroyed any other carriage, and very much to the surprise of *engineer 3 , 
who are sadly uninformed on all points relative to steam coaches, and have 
never advanced their success. 

In the improvements you are now engaged upon in your carriage, are 
they relative to the size and weights of the different parts, or merely in the 
conveyance of the goods and passengers? They are more in improving 
slight details; the power we have beyond all question to propel vehicles of 
any weight, at any required velocity. 

Have you made many experiments as to the size of your cylinder? We 
have made several experiments. 

In reference to the usual velocity you require, and the weight you have to 
carry, what do you find the most advantageous size of cylinder? The larger 
the cylinder, certainly, the better; but were I to give definite answers to 
such questions, it would be giving too much information to those opposed 
to us. 

What is the greatest weight that any steam engine you have ever built is 
capable of carrying ten miles an hour? About three tons, in addition to its 
own weight. The majority of the London engineers treated our opinions, 
founded on the laws of nature and experiment, with contempt and ridicule, 
and were amazed at witnessing the vigor of our engines, and the velocity 
with which we left the factory in Cablestreet, Whitechapel, and proceeded 
towards Shouthampton. 

Have your ever ascertained that that carriage, when loaded, weighs six. 
tons? No, never. 


89 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

What was the greatest weight you ever weighed? We never weighed 
it at all. I can only speak from conjecture. 1 have seen nineteen persons 
on it, and seven cwt. of water. 

At what rate did you travel with that load? We went with that load up 
a considerable ascent, about thirteen miles from Southampton; I should 
think, about from a quarter to half a mile. We travelled about ten miles 
an hour. 

How did you ascertain that rate—did you make accurate observations at 
the time? We know pretty accurately, by observation, at what rate we are 
going; but we can ascertain with the greatest minuteness, by knowing the 
number of revolutions made by a wheel of a certain diameter. 

When you were conveying those nineteen persons, how many horse 
power do you suppose was exerted by your machinery? Nearly twenty 
horse power. 

tfou have stated that your carriages do not do injury to roads, but are ra¬ 
ther a benefit; subsequently you have said that your carriages did not do 
half the injury of common carriages? Yes; if the tire of the wheel was 
very broad, it would be no injury. 

J)o you know the ordinary breadth of the tire of a stage coach wheel? 
About two inches or two and a quarter, varying a little. 

Do you know the weight of a stage coach, with its complement of eighteen 
passengers? Three tons. 

What particular coach do you refer to? The Telegraph from London to 
Southampton, with its full load, has been reported tome, by its proprietors, 
to weigh about three tons. 

What would be the weight of your machine when loaded? Three tons, 
besides its load. 

What do you suppose the nineteen passengers weighed? A ton and a 
half certainly. 

The breadth of your tire is three inches? Yes. 

From your observation of the effect of a coach weighing three tons, and a 
two and a quarter inch tire going along a road, seeing the impression made 
upon the roads, and witnessing your own carriage weighing four tons and a 
half, with a three inch tire, what is the relative indentation or injury done 
to the road? Not greater, as far as I have ever been able to observe. 

Is it as great? I think not as great. 

Independent entirely of the injury that the four horses do to the road? 
Just so. Independent of that entirely. 

Can you suggest any mode by which tolls shall be fairly charged on steam 
carriages? I should say by their weight, with a deduction in favor of the 
steam engines, inasmuch as they do not the same degree of injury to the road 
as a vehicle drawn by horses. 

Do you think that the injury done by four horses on a road is greater 
than the injury done by the four wheels of the same carriage? Decidedly. 

Upon what data do you state that opinion? Because the animal must hold 
on as he goes; if he has a great weight behind him, he must hold tighter than 
it he merely carries his own weight. I do not know the number of strokes 
that a horse’s foot must have gone in an hour, but it is a great number, and 
where there are four horses, those must be multiplied; and this, on a road 
moistened by the rain, must make great indentations, and tear up the surface: 
the transit being continuous, the road must suffer more than from the mere 
pressure of the tire over it. 

12 


90 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Do you state that as your opinion merely, or as the result of your observa¬ 
tion and practice? As the result of my observation and practice, and also 
from the deductions of reason. 

Where have you made those observations? In going about on horseback 
in my own steam vehicle, and my own carriage, I have observed the manner 
in which the road has been cut up. I have also observed the road, after it 
has been passed over by a steam vehicle, and have seen that part of the road 
we found injured by the horses’ feet rolled over by the middle wheel. 

In what state was the road at the time? Rather wet. 

Were the materials recently laid down, or consolidated? There were 
patches of gravel; and there (he steam carriage was a decided advantage. 

Was it of more advantage than the wheel of an ordinary carriage? Yes, 
decidedly so. 

Do you conceive that the injury done by horses’ feet is in the wearing 
of materials, or the displacing materials? In both. 

What is the nature of the injury which the wheel does? The wheel al¬ 
ways forms for itself a hill, and that hill is in exact proportion to the inden¬ 
tation. 

Do you mean to say that the hill is formed by the displacing materials? 
Yes there is a line, of the materials of which the road is composed, on both 
sides of the tire. 

If a road is properly constructed, will that take place? The harder the 
road, the less the indentation. 

Have you paid much attention to the construction of roads? Not much. 

Will you state more definitely the nature of the injury you have seen in 
regard to the effect of the horses’ feet, in comparison to that of the wheels of 
carriages? First of all they displace at every blow, they tear up, and throw 
the surface behind them; whereas the wheel only rolls as it goes, and throws 
some portion on both sides of it, if the road is soft. 

Do you know from your own knowledge how much the crust of an ordi¬ 
nary road round London will bear? No; it depends so much upon the nature 
of the road. 

Mr. Alexander Gordon , called in, and examined. 

Are you an egnineer? I am. 

Have you had much experience in the propelling carriages on common 
roads by steam? My principal experience in that has been whilst observing 
what Mr. Gurney has done. I have also been connected with locomotive 
engines, for which my father took out patents in 1822 and in 1824; and also 
with an engine that Mr. Brown attempted to propel by a gas vacuum engine 
in 1S24, 1825, and 1826. 1 have not had time to prepare a drawing, but I 

have made a small sketch oftwo distinct patents {producing the same) which 
my father had in 1822 and 1824. The one in 1822, was a machine, with 
a small high pressure engine in a drum; as the drum advanced with a rolling 
motion, it moved, before it, a carriage body on two wheels, attached to the 
front of the large rolling drum. Subsequently, in 1S24, my father discon¬ 
tinued his former plan, and took out another patent, in which his object was 
to substitute propellers instead of the driving wheel: for that purpose, he had 
propelling legs in the middle of the locomotive engine, similar to horSes’ 
legs and feet, working through the bottom of the body of the carriage against 
the ground, thus propelling the carriage onward. Mr. Gurney’s progress in 
1826 and 1827, showed clearly that this arrangement was not necessary in 


91 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

every case, but that one of the wheels of the carriage, when attached to the 
steam engine, had a sufficient hold of the ground to give progressing motiou 
to the carriage without using propellers; and the introduction of that inven 
tion has subsequently been given up by me in consequence. 

Have both the plans you have given in been given up? Both. They 
were given up from prudential motives on my own part, as it was an expen¬ 
sive business to proceed with them. Mr. Gurney had made such great ad¬ 
vances, that it would have been throwing away money I think to have gone 
on further with them. I found that the propelling feet, shown in the mid¬ 
dle of the engine, do more injury to the roads than the propelling wheels. 

Have you been engaged in running stage coaches? I was engaged in run¬ 
ning a stage coach with horses four years ago; and since this committee com¬ 
menced their examination, I have been making some calculations as to the 
comparative wear and tear of the road by horses’ feet and coach wheels; and 
I consider that the tear and wear of the horses’ shoes is very much greater 
than that of the tires of the wheels. I know it to be so. A set of tires will 
run 3,000 miles in good weather, or on the average 2,700 miles, while a set 
of horses’ shoe will travel only 200 miles. Take the square inches of the 
rubbing surface, I think the rubbing surface of the wheel, on an ordinary 
road, to be somewhere about sixteen square inches; I am taking a gravelly 
road. 

Do you mean to say that if a coach was standing still, there would be a 
segment of the wheel of eight inches touching the ground? On a gravelly 
road, with a dished wheel, it is about that; and I take the average of sixteen 
square inches, because all tires are not limited to two inches width: some of 
them are a little more; 1 take sixteen inches as the standard on the average 
quality of roads. 

You state that eight inches of the wheel are imbedded in the road in 
ordinary cases? That is the fact. I took the whole together at the average. 
With the front wheels it would not be so much, on all occasions, as on the 
hind wheels. I take the average, allowing for this variation. 

Do you give this answer from actual experiments? From observation. 

Having measured that part of the wheel which touches the road? I can¬ 
not say that I have put my rule to it; but I mean to say a segment of eight 
inches is pretty accurate. If it is on a perfectly hard road, in dry weather, 
the load will almost be a mere tangent to the circle; baton a soft road, in 
damp weather, the wheel will make more or less of a rut, and tne average 
depth of the rut will give the average for the segment. 

Will you give the proportion of surface for the horses’ feet? I think 
twelve square inches superficial for one horse-shoe. I cannot say that I have 
measured it. 

What is the weight of the carriage which you say imbeds itself eight 
inches? I take the weight of the ordinary post coaches, when fully loaded, 
to be somewhere about three tons. I principally rest my opinion, as to the 
comparative tear and wear,aipon the wear of the horses’ shoes when com¬ 
pared with the wear of the ures. A horse, after a run of 200 miles, must be 
shod; and after a run of 3,000 miles, in dry weather, a coach must have 
new ti'es. 

From thence you infer that the wear of the two is in proportion to those 
numbers? I think it must be thereabout; that is, setting aside altogether for 
the present, the consideration that the horses’ movement is a series q 
thumps and picks, while the wheel it a roller. 


92 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Is not the iron of the wheel thicker than that of the horses’ shoe? Yes; 
to keep the wheel firm. 

Do you not infer, from the action of the horse’s hoof upon the road, that 
the injury would be great in proportion? I think that the action of the 
horse’s foot on the ground is more destructive to the road: there is more 
tear and wear to the road by the horse’s shoe than by the tire. In rolling 
two tons along the ground, on four wheels, there will be no less damage 
done than by driving four horses without drawing any thing after them 
along the same ground. 

Have you made any observations as to the relative wear of the shoes of 
riding horses compared with those of horses employed in carriages? No; I 
now speak from circumstances which came to my knowledge when I was 
connected with running a stage. 

Have you had an opportunity of comparing the wear of the wheels of a 
steam carriage with the wear of the wheels of a carriage, supposing they run 
equal distances and carry equal weight? I have seen Mr. Gurney’s proceed¬ 
ings from the beginning to the present time, and in riding with him, I have 
very narrowly observed the driving wheel to see whether it ever made a 
surd, (that is to say) made a slip or missed its hold of the ground; and that 
has so seldom happened, that I do not think it can do much more injury than 
any other wheel, indeed I might say none; if it does, it is very trifling. 

You speak of the propelling wheel? Yes. 

Do you know the weight of Mr. Gurney’s carriage? I know the weight 
of Mr. Gurney’s carriage from having been told. I take the weight of Mr. 
Gurney’s present locomotive engine when it carries six or eight persons, to 
be nearly as heavy as an ordinary four horse carriage without the weight of 
its horses, that is, about three tons with coke, water and passengers. 

Are you speaking of the comparative injury to the roads done by Mr. 
Gurney’s carriage and a four-horse coach? Yes. 

Which do you think does most injury-to the road? I should think it 
must be the same thing, carrying a great weight on any four wheels of 
equal diameters and surfaces: it will amount to the same thing. 

Does not that suppose that the tire is of the same width? I take the tires 
to be the same. 

That is independent of the four horses? Yes. 

Then the injury done by the four horses is in addition? Yes. 

Have you observed what the proportion is of the damage done by four 
horses drawing a coach, and the four wheels of a coach? I cannot say that 
1 have made any observation upon that further than the tear and wear of 
the shoes, and the tire. I have seen the ruts in a narrow road and the 
horses’ path between them; viewing these and viewing the towing path on 
the side of a canal and between the rails of railroad, I should think that the 
horses do fully more harm than the wheels. 

Do you think that the action of the horse’s feet on a towing path will do 
more injury than on a road? Yes; but the actiori’of the horse’s feet on a tow¬ 
ing-path is not quite the same as when he is carrying a weight or pulling a 
weight directly after him. The horse hauling on a canal has a motion side¬ 
ways, and leans to the side farthest from the boat, platting his feet: this is a 
more destructive action than that of horses’ feet on a road. 

Have you found that there is any tendency to slip in Mr. Gurney’s car¬ 
riages m going up a hill covered with new stones? When the surface of the 
road is not firm, there is a tendency to slip; and when I said there wa s 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 93 

merely a fraction more of injury done by that wheel than by the others, I 
was taking such cases into account. 

Do you think that the injury that steam carriages do to the roads will be 
exactly in proportion to their different weights, taking the same breadth of 
the tire? I cannot state the proportion; if you increase the weight, you 
must increase the breadth of the tire: at different speeds, the injury will dif¬ 
fer. 

Taking the same breadth of tires, and the same velocity, do vou conceive 
the injury to the road increases in exact proportion to the weight; for in¬ 
stance, that a steam carriage of two tons will do only half the injury that a 
coach of four tons would do? I do not know that it will be exactly in these 
proportions; but it will be somewhat similar. 

Then supposing that a steam coach carrying two tons, had tires of a 
breadth of three inches, and that a steam coach carrying four tons had the 
tires of the wheels of the breadth of six inches; do you think that the injury 
would be proportionate? I think that there would be nearly the same 
amount of injury. 

Suppose you increase the weight so as to break through the crust of the 
road? If you put a very heavy weight, you will break the crust of the road 
altogether, no doubt. 

Do you think that could be obviated by increasing the breadth of the tire 
of the wheel? To a certain extent; but you may increase the weight so 
much as to pulverize the material of the road, even with a broad tire. 

Have the observations you have made been founded on actual experiment 
or not? It is on observation; I have observed the action of Mr. Gurney’s 
wheels very narrowly on the roads, because I was interested in another pa¬ 
tent that was to introduce propellers in the middle of the locomotive engine 
as shown in the drawing produced. 

Have you observed them under different ascertained weights? No great 
variety. 

Upon an ordinary road, is the injury done by a stage coach or by a steam 
carriage so great as to be apparent at each time that carriage travels along 
the road? Whenever you see a mark left by a wheel, you are entitled to say 
there is an injury done to the road to the extent of the rut. 

Do you state that if it is merely a mark on the soft surface of the road? 
Yes, from the wheel being at all imbedded in the soil; the water gets in and 
soaks its way through. If it is in frosty weather, the water and the damp get 
down, and the alternate freezing and melting destroys the road. 

In an ordinary road, is the impression of the wheel of a stage coach upon 
the solid surface of the road so great as to make the injury apparent every 
time the carriage passes over it? It is apparent to me, because, wherever 
there is a mark upon the road, there is a consequent injury. 

Whether that mark is merely the impression of the wheel on the soft mud 
or dust, or by crushing the materials? Wherever the road is damp, the con¬ 
sequence of the mark, however slight, tends to destroy the road. 

Do you mean whether on the soft mud on the road, or on the solid sub¬ 
stance? The road must be destroyed to some extent; I do not say that it is 
perceptible. If you put out of consideration the surface, the mere mud, it is 
not perhaps perceptible at the time, but there must be tear and wear going 
on on the road, or it will last for ever. I do not now talk of the action of the 
elements. 

On what data do you state that the steam carriage does not do more injury 


94 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

than the wheels of a stage coach? Because it does not make a deeper rut. 

Does either of them make a rut? If you suppose the road to be a concrete 
mass, and that there is merely a little mud and dust on the top of it, I cannot 
prove that a four horse coach does any perceptible injury to that road. I 
will say also a steam carriage will, in a similar case, do no perceptible in¬ 
jury to it. 

Of course, if the road was composed of solid rock, you would not be able 
to tell whether a coach of any description had gone over, there being no 
mark left, but talking of ordinary turnpike roads, should you be able to trace 
the indentation that coach made? Yes. 

Would you not be able to do the same with the steam carriage? Yes; there 
are some roads in England, apart of the Holyhead road, for instance, so well 
made that you cannot trace any vestige of injury done in good weather. A 
part of Mr. Telford’s road there is a concrete mass. 

Do you know whether that road has ever been mended since it was first 
made? I suppose it has. 

Should you not say that the injury done to the road by a carriage passing 
over it, depends greatly on the state of that road, whether damp or dry, or 
otherwise? Certainly. 

Are there any states in which a road is placed in which no injury is done 
by a carriage passing over it—take the case of a hard frost for instance? No 
perceptible injury is done in that case, if the road is so hard that the wheel 
makes no mark upon it. But where the road is at all soft, and when the 
wheel sinks into that road, it must destroy the road: if it be merely in mud on 
the surface of the road, it is making a cistern to hold a puddle of w’ater. 

The greatest injury done to the road, will be just after the breaking up of 
a frost? Yes; or in fact after the effect of the frost, the water having got 
into the interstices, has been frozen and expanded. When it thaws, the road 
is not so compact, it is soft and pulpy. 

That is the state in which the greatest injury will be done to the road by 
a heavy weight passing over it? Yes. 

Have you ever, in such a particular state of the road, observed the injury 
done by a stage coach drawn by horses, and that by a carriage propelled by 
steam? I have seen the locomotive engine travelling in the month of Janu¬ 
ary, and also the ordinary carriages, and I cannot see that the locomotive 
engine has done any more injury than an ordinary carriage. The destruction 
on the road after a frost is much greater than in other cases. 

Have you made observation as to the effect on the road by each carriage 
when the road was in the worst state? I have seen them exactly at the same 
time and in the same circumstances. In the month of October, when there 
had been a considerable deal of rain, and the old road to Barnet, down by 
Stanmore, was very soft in consequence of the rain, I have seen the effect of 
a locomotive engine, and the effect of the Hemel Hempstead coach running 
along side of each other, and I consider that there was no difference at that 
time. I was then watching the action of Mr. Gurney’s wheels, and particu¬ 
larly his driving wheel, with that view. I put the horses out of the case 
Was there any perceptible difference in the damage done? None, that 
I perceived. 

What are the effects on the wear of the road, by increasing the velocity 
of the steam carriage? I have pot observed that, but it must be less. Sup¬ 
pose you are carrying a weight on a road slowly after a frost, you will break 
the crust; but travelling at a greater rate over it, it will not have that effect; 
the frozen crust will remain unbroken. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 95 

Have you observed the effect on the road, by increasing the diameter of 
the wheels? I cannot say that I have seen that. 

In Mr. Gurney’s carriage, the wheels do not always follow in the same 
track? Sometimes they do, and sometimes they do not. 

Under those circumstances, supposing equal weights on the four wheels, 
it would be easy for you to observe whether the wear of the fore and hind 
wheels was the same? I never observed any perceptible difference in the 
injury. 

A considerable proportion of the u r ear of the road is to be attributed to 
the atmosphere, without reference to the carriages which pass over it? 
Yes; the most destructive element in nature is water; and, in the course ot 
the winter, the action of the water that gets sucked up into the road is very 
bad, and the very washing is also very bad. 

Are they many states of the road in w r hieh a wide tire is of considerable 
advantage to the road? Yes. 

In the majority of cases do you think the superior width of the tire which 
the steam carriage has over a carriage drawn by horses, is altogether an 
advantage or a disadvantage? A wide tire has the advantage upon the aver¬ 
age. 

And the steam carriage has that advantage over the other? Of late, Mr. 
Gurney has increased the width of his tire: it was at all times wider, but he 
has increased it still more. 

Does the width of the tire impede the velocity at all? Scarcely in a per¬ 
ceptible degree. 

Are you of opinion that a wide tire, under any circumstances, does in¬ 
jury to a road in any state of it? I have made no observation as to its doing 
an injury. 

Complaints have been made that a great inconvenience arises to passen¬ 
gers along the road from the use of these carriages, from the horses being 
frightened in consequence of the peculiar noise; the smoke, and the letting 
off the steam? have you seen any inconvenience of that kind? I have seen 
one case where a gig ran off for about 200 yards, and was then stopped 
without any accident. I have also seen the same thing happen with a stage 
coach; it is a common thing with a young shy horse. 1 have seen Mr. 
Gurney’s coach at work in the barrack yard, in the Regent’s park, and have 
not seen the horses frightened these. 

Should you say you have seen a much greater number of cases of horses 
being frightened and running away attending the use of steam carriages than 
of common coaches? My experience in steam carriages is limited, and so 
must be that of every one when compared with the experience had with 
ordinary coaches. I have seen Mr. Gurney’s engines, in going through the 
streets of London, and I have not seen horses frightened in any case: they 
may be shy, and prick their ears at it, but they have not started. 

Have you turned your attention to the question, how tolls should be fair¬ 
ly charged on such carriages? No. 

Mr. Joseph Gibbs , called in, and examined. 

Are you an engineer? I am. 

Were you brought up to that business? I was. 

Are you the patentee or proprietor of a steam carriage? I am patentee 
of a new method of more economically and safely generating steam, which 
I am applying to steam carriages. 


96 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Has it been practically carried into effect in steam carriages? No; I 
am building steam carriages, one of which is complete. I have been to 
Cheltenham to see the effect of a carnage there, and travelled nearly 100 
miles between Cheltenham and Gloucester, with Mr. Gurney’s carriage with 
that view. 

Did you find that any inconvenience arose to the persons travelling upon 
the roads from Mr. Gurney’s carriage? I did not observe any particular 
inconvenience ; certainly the horses shyed a little. That may be accounted 
for from too great a quantity of fuel being consumed, which caused too great 
a smoke and vapor, but that will be reduced as improvements take place. 

Have you paid attention to the effect on the roads of Mr. Gurney’s steam 
carriage? I have. 

Will you give the result of your observations? I conceive that steam car¬ 
riages do no injury to the roads further than the carriages at present in use; 
no horses being applied, there is so much diminution of injury to the road 
from the horses not being used: the wheels I do not conceive do any more in¬ 
jury than those of a stage coach, supposing them of both the same weight. 

Then deducting the weight of the horses, do you conceive that the injury 
is the same, weight for weight? Precisely. 

What opportunity had you of examining the state of the roads after the 
carriage had passed over? I frequently went in a carriage attached to the 
steam carriage, passing behind it: my object was to know the right width 
a wheel ought to be made to obtain sufficient traction, and I never saw any 
mud displaced which was upon the wheel during its revolution. I particu¬ 
larly remarked the indentations in the tire which will be made in conse¬ 
quence of the wheel coming in contract with the sharp flints upon the road; 
now if the wheel had slipped, the tire would have been graved or cut into 
small furrows, but that was not the case: I had the wheels cleaned in or¬ 
der to observe the effect. 

Did you go up any hills? The hill going into Gloucester. 

At what elevation? That I cannot say exactly; it is a considerable hill. 

Do you conceive great improvements will take place in Mr. Gurney’s 
carriage? I conceive great improvements will take place in all steam car¬ 
riages; that they are in their infancy; that there are not yet sufficient practi¬ 
cal data to form a perfect judgment by as to the ultimate shape of the vehi¬ 
cle, arrangement of parts, and weight of machinery. 

Have you considered what would be the best mode of charging toll on 
such carriages? No; I have not yet paid attention particularly to that sub¬ 
ject. 

Is toll charged on Mr. Gurney’s carriage? None was charged while I 
was there. 

Have you seen Mr. Hancock’s carriage? I have. 

He carries his passengers—he does not draw them? No, he does not. 

Do you give the same result as to your experience of the injury from that 
carriage? Yes; except that Mr. Hancock’s wheel is not cylindrical; it is 
rather conical, and a conical wheel must be more injurious to the roads than 
an upright one, although, in this case, the wheel being narrow, the differ¬ 
ence cannot be very great. 

On the principle on which you state that you are forming your carriages, 
shall you be enabled to diminish the weight greatly? The carriage I am 
now conslructing weighs two tons, without water: it is made stronger, be¬ 
cause there are not any practical data yet respecting the parts. 


97 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Veneris , 19 die Jlugusti , 1S31. 

Thomas Telford , esquire, called in, and examined. 

You are aware that the object of this committee is to ascertain, as far as 
practicable, how far the operation of carriages propelled by steam upon pub¬ 
lic roads is more or less injurious than the operation of carriages drawn by 
horses? I have never had any experience of steam carriages upon roads, 
and therefore I cannot say experimentally what effect they will produce, 
but if there is no projection upon the surface of the wheel, and they are not 
suffered to drag upon the road, it does not appear to me that any injury can 
arise more, but rather less than by common carriages. 

Do you consider that, supposing the weight of a steam carriage were equal 
to that of a carriage drawn by horses, that is two tons each, the injury done 
to the road by horses or by the carriage would be the greatest? I should ex¬ 
pect that by the horses. 

In a much greater degree, do you conceive? I cannot exactly say the 
proportion, but I should think the greatest degree of injury arises from the 
horses’ feet. 

What is the nature of the injury done to roads by the travelling" of 
carriages and horses? By the horses chiefly, by tearing up the surface 
with their shoes. I do not consider that the pressure of the wheels upon a 
good made road is nearly so injurious to the road as the tearing up of the 
road by the horses’ feet. 

Supposing that the operations of a steam carriage were so perfect that 
there should be no sliding of the wheels, and that such steam carriage were 
of four tons weight, and also that the joint weight of a coach and horses 
were four tons, travelling at equal velocity and with equal breadth of tire, 
which do you think would do the least injury to the road? I should think 
that the steam carriage would do the least injury, but that is not from expe¬ 
rience of steam carriages, but only from my general information, always 
taking for granted that there is no projection outside the wheel. 

If, under those circumstances, the breadth of the tire of the carriage drawn 
by horses were two inches and a half, the usual breadth, and the breadth 
of the tire of the steam coach were four inches, should you then have any 
doubt which would do the least injury to the road? I have already said if 
the tires were equal, I conceive the steam carriage would do the least injury, 
and certainly the»chance of injury will be lessened if the tire is made dou¬ 
ble the breadth. 

If the breadth of the tire of the wheels of steam carriages could be ex¬ 
tended to six inches, might they not, in many states of the roads, be rather 
beneficial than injurious? Where the road is properly made, of good ma¬ 
terials and well consolidated, the mere pressure of a carriage would not have 
any effect. 

Do you think it would be fair to impose an equal toll, weight for weight, 
on steam carriages and on carriages drawn by horses? I think it ought not to 
exceed that. 

Do you think that it ought to be equal, as the one carriage you state does 
not do so much injury as the other? In justice it ought to be diminished, 
but that is only opinion until it is proved. 

Have you paid any attention to the mode of charging toll on steam car¬ 
riages? I have not. 

13 


9S 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Mr. William Altoft Summers , engineer, called in, and examined. 

Are you practically acquainted with the operation of steam carriages on 
common roads? I am. 

Have you ever superintended the building of steam carriages? I have su¬ 
perintended the building of two steam vehicles. 

What was the weight of the lightest of those steam carriages? The light¬ 
est of the two was about two tons ten cwt. 

Do you give that from guess or from actual weighing of the vehicle? 
From actual weighing of the vehicle. 

That was without the charge of fuel and water? Yes; without the charge 
of fuel and water. 

What would that add? The quantity of water we carried with that vehi¬ 
cle was five cwt., that carried us about eight miles, and the quantity of fuel 
we carried would be about four cwt. generally, that would last nearly double 
the time the water did: we always carried an extra quantity of fuel to meet 
any exigencies on the road. 

On the mean of the distance that would bring it to about four hundred and 
a hall? Yes. 

Then the steam carriage, and the average charge of fuel and water, and 
the persons to guide it, would weigh about how much? About three tons two 
cwt. 

What is the greatest weight which you have known that carriage to be 
able to carry exclusive of its own weight and charge? I remember, in one 
instance, that we had ten persons upon it, and that we travelled with those 
ten persons at the average rate of about nine miles an hour. 

On what road did this vehicle you are speaking of, run? It ran from 
Cable street, Wellclose square, to within two miles and a half of Basing¬ 
stoke; (it was only an experimental journey—the same vehicle had run in 
various directions, about the streets and outskirts of London before;) that 
was the furthest distance we ran with it. 

Isit running at the present time? No. 

Why was it given up? When‘we arrived within about two miles and a 
half of Basingstoke, the crank shaft broke, and we were obliged to put it 
into a barge, and send it back to London. 

Is this a carriage of which the committee have had any information? 
No; the committee have had no previous information respecting this car¬ 
riage. 

Is this on the same principle as that described by Mr. Ogle? No it is not 
on the same principle. 

Have you a drawing of this carriage? I have not; but I can explain the 
principle pretty clearly. 

Have you abandoned the principle upon which this carriage was formed? 
Entirely; except that the boiler, with which it was furnished when we ran 
down to Basingstoke, was the same with which we travelled in the vehicle, 
of which Mr. Ogle has given a description. 

When you were travelling with those ten persons, did you try to increase 
the speed? Yes. 

You were not able to do it? We were not; because the size of our en¬ 
gines would not consume the quantity of steam generated by the boiler, and 
we were not able to go any faster, the engines not being calculated for taking 
a sufficient quantity of steam to produce greater speed. 

What was the size of the cylinder with which you worked? We had 


[ Doc. No. 101 . ] 99 

three cylinders, each four inches diameter, and the stroke of the piston 
twelve inches in each. 

In the present carriages which you run on the Southampton road, what is 
the size of the cylinders? Seven inches and a half diameter each, and the 
stroke of each piston eighteen inches. 

Do you apply your power immediately from the piston to the crank? 
Through the medium of a connecting rod only. 

You have witnessed the operation of Mr. Ogle’s carriage on the South¬ 
ampton road? I have always been with it. 

He has stated that the weight of that is about three tons? It is about three 
tons. 

What is the greatest weight by actual experiments, exclusive of its own 
weight, that you have seen that carriage draw? We never weighed the 
present carriage; but I remember nineteen persons being at one time on the 
vehicle. 

To what distance did you carry the whole of those nineteen persons? 
We carried those nineteen persons a distance of about three miles and a half. 

Was that on a level road, or on a road with hills? We ascended two 
very considerable hills in the distance; it was in the New Forest. 

At what average speed did you travel with those nineteen persons? We 
travelled at the average speed of nearly ten miles an hour. 

What was the utmost speed with which you travelled? We ascended one 
of the hills at the rate of more than fifteen miles an hour. 

What do you suppose to he the inclination*^ that hill, and what the 
length? I should think the inclination of that hill would not be less than 
one in twelve, and the length of it from half to three quarters of a mile: it 
is one of the steepest hills in the New Forest. 

If you are able to drive up one of the steepest hills at the rate of fifteen 
miles, how is it that you give your average speed at less than ten? The 
reason we travelled with greater speed up the hill is, that the fire was 
in better order on ascending the hill than whilst travelling on the level road, 
and caused a greater generation of steam. 

You have stated that you went up at the rate of fifteen miles an hour—how 
did you make that calculation? By counting the number of revolutions 
made by the hind wheels. 

Are you quite sure there was no loss from slipping during that period? 
I am quite sure there was no loss. 

Having ascended the most difficult part at the rate of fifteen miles per hour, 
and placing your mean power at so low as ten miles per hour, and stating 
the reason of the mean being so low that the fire was in better order at one 
period than another; does it proceed from any defect in your fire place 
which renders it difficult to keep the fire always at a certain power? At 
that time we had not the means of stoking or putting fuel on the fire 
through the centre of the boiler; the consequence of which was, that we 
were obliged to put a greater quantity of fuel on the fire than we otherwise 
should have been, which caused the fire to be a considerable time before it 
burnt through the fresh fuel; but having lately made a trifling improvement 
in our boiler, we now average, with the present vehicle, fifteen miles per 
hour. 

Were you travelling for hire on that road? We have never travelled for 
hire yet, but merely on experimental journies. 

You have never made the experiment of weighing your carriage to ascer^ 


100 




[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

tain at what rate you can travel with any particular weight? We never made 
the experiment, except by carrying persons. 

Do you find it easy to increase the velocity with any certain weight? 
That depends on a great many circumstances; the state of the roads has very 
great influence on that; but our power is capable of being increased to almost 
any extent. 

As an engineer, what should you say would be the greatest weight which 
can be carried by a carriage weighing three tons at the rate of ten miles an 
hour? I have no doubt it would be able to carry three tons at the rate of 
ten miles an hour besides itself; and after the improvements I have in view 
are completed, I have no doubt that much greater weights may be carried at 
that rate. 

Have you ever tried it? We have never tried it; but I ground my opin¬ 
ion on ha ving seen the steam blowing off at both safety-valves, with tre¬ 
mendous violence, during the time we were travelling at the rate of upwards 
of thirty miles an hour. 

What distance have you ever continued travelling at the rate of thirty 
miles an hour? We have continued travelling at the rate of thirty miles an 
hour, four hours and a half very frequently, and could have continued to have 
gone longer, had we not required a fresh supply of water, our tank not be¬ 
ing quite large enough. 

How could you continue to travel at the rate of thirty miles an hour, 
when you have already given so low a mean of the average of travelling on 
account of your fire place? Because it depends entirely on the quality of 
the fire: we have never found any difficulty in travelling over the worst and 
most hilly roads since our last improvement in the furnace, when the fire is 
in good order. 

Have you watched the operation of your propelling wheels on the road? 
Continually. 

Have you ever seen the operation of a drag on a common coach going 
down hill? Very frequently. 

What is the effect produced on a road which is nearly dry? The effect 
produced on a very hard road, when nearly dry, is very trifling, but on a soft 
or gravelly road it does great injury. 

Does not it produce a glossy appearance on the rut? Always. 

Is that same effect produced by your carriage in going down a hill? No, 
certainly not; because our wheels in going down hill are always revolving. 

By what operation do you decrease the velocity of the carriage going 
down the hill so as to check the inclination of itself to run down the hill, 
and yet keep it under control? On arriving at the brow of the hill, we 
throttle or wiredraw the steam in order to check the velocity of the engines, 
and if we find that the hill is so steep that the carriage would run faster than 
we wish, we have two drags attached to the hind wheels, and with the foot 
we press on one drag or on both, as it may be required, and by that means 
regulate the velocity of the carriage. 

Does not that stop the motion of the wheel? No, it does not prevent 
the wheel revolving. 

How is the drag applied? It is a kind of iron band or strap which goes 
round a portion of the tire or the wheel, and our power of breaking is multi¬ 
plied by levers to a very great extent. 

You have stated that the utmost weight your carriage would carry, at the 
rate of ten miles an hour, was three tons; do you think you would be able to 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 101 

carry a much greater weight at the rate of five miles an hour only? Cer- 
tainly we should. 

To what extent should you increase your power of carrying? I cannot 
answer that from experience. 

At what period of slow motion do you think that the increased expense 
of fuel would be greater than the use of horses in draft? I have not ascer¬ 
tained that from experiment; but I think steam will supersede horses in 
drawing carriages, even at low velocities. 

How often do you find it necessary to clean your boiler? We have never 
found it necessary to clean it yet: it has been in operation more than twelve 
months. 

Do you conceive that is owing to the peculiar quality of the water, or 
that, under any circumstances, that would happen? We have had water of 
every description. 

Is there no incrustation upon it? Not the slightest. 

Supposing there were incrustation upon it, would it be difficult to clean it, 
and would that require an engineer? It would merely require a common 
laborer to clean the boiler, which might be done by removing some plugs 
that communicate with each of the cylinders of which the boiler is compos¬ 
ed, and, when required, may be done with a scraper or wire brush. 

What becomes of the carbonate of lime and the sulphate of lime, and so 
on, which are in solution in different waters? Every time after we have ar¬ 
rived at our journey’s end, we open a cock communicating with the bottom 
of thg boiler; perhaps we do not give the matter time enough to rest: it is all 
blown out at the pressure of 240 lbs. on the square inch. 

Have you ever had your boilers rent? No, we have never had an in¬ 
stance in which the boiler has given way in any part of it; and, in several in¬ 
stances, we have had it red hot. 

Of what material is it formed? Of the best charcoal iron. 

Have you ever tried it by pressure? I proved the boiler before it was 
put into the steam carriage at 364 lbs. on the square inch; it will support 
740 lbs. on the square inch, 

At what pressure do you work? We usually work it on the road at a 
pressure between 240 and 260, finding that pressure more economical than 
any other. 

What surface of iron is exposed to the fire and heated air? Two hun¬ 
dred and fort-five superficial feet: the weight of the boiler is eight cwt. two 
quarters. 

What is the thickness of the iron? About one-tenth of an inch; thin 
boilers last longer in proportion than thick ones, because the heat sooner 
passes through it into the water, and has not time to act upon the iron. 

For what period do you conceive that it is calculated to last? From having 
had twelve months’ experience, I should say it would last very well two 
years and a half. 

During what portion of the twelve month was the engine in actual opera¬ 
tion? It has not been in constant operation every day; but we have been 
in the habit of going out four days out of six, and working from eight in the 
morning till seven or eight o’clock at night; the boiler is not at ail injured, 
it is in the same state in which it was when first put into the vehicle; nei¬ 
ther have we had any accident with the machinery, contrary to the opinion 
of almost every engineer who saw the vehicle before it left London. The 
vibration or jar being much less on common roads than on a railrway, and 
the whole of our machinery being suspended on springs; the engines work 
as smoothly as if they were fixed oa the firmest foundation. 


102 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Where are the passengers placed, in reference to the boiler? They are 
placed in front, and in the middle of the vehicle, and the boiler is entirely 
behind the body ol the carriage and passengers. 

You are frequently in the habit of passing horses? Yes. 

Do you find that they are frightened? I have occasionally observed them 
shy, as they sometimes do at a wheelbarrow; but we never had any accident 
from horses being alarmed. 

Do you find it less now than at the commencement of you experiment? 
Certainly. 

Is there a peculiar noise attends the motion of your engine? The noise 
is not as great as in a vehicle drawn by horses. 

Is there any peculiar noise from the escape of your steam? I cannot say 
that there is no noise at all; there is a noise, but it is so trifling that the rat¬ 
tling of the wheels on the road entirely drown it. 

Is there continually steam being let off from the safety-valves? Almost 
continually. 

Does that produce any disagreeable effect to the passengers? None what- 
ever: all the waste steam is blown into the furnace, which entirely prevents 
any noise that can be heard on the road. 

It has been stated to the committee, that, in some steam carriages, actually 
in operation, there is a very peculiar noise from the escape of the steam, 
from whence does that proceed? It proceeds in one carriage, which 1 have 
seen running along the roads, from the steam being blown in at the bottom 
part of the chimney of the furnace, at a distance very near to the open air. 

That may be obviated by a different form of chimney—may it not? No 
doubt it may. 

You are aware that that principle is one of the most important principles 
which has been introduced into the working by steam? I am quite aware, 
that, on the Liverpool and Manchester railway, that is the principle they 
have adopted with some success. We have produced the same effect by 
another, and I think better means. 

Will you state by what means you produce that effect? Instead of blow¬ 
ing our waste steam into the chimney, in order to produce a draught, we 
have a fan or blowing machine, which is driven by the engines when in ope¬ 
ration, and this gives us intensity of heat in the furnace. The waste steam 
from our engines goes into a double casing round the furnace; we admit a 
small portion underneath the firebars of the grate, and the remainder is al¬ 
lowed to expand itselt into the double casing, after which it comes over the 
top of the fire, and escapes in the form of invisible vapor. 

Then, in fact, you arrive at the same result, but with this difference, that 
you increase the draught of the fire by using a certain quantity of the power 
of your engine, whilst those who introduce the steam into the chimney in¬ 
crease the draught by a power^which y^u throw away? We have tried it 
in both ways, but we find this the most advantageous, because in those car¬ 
riages in which the .steam is driven into the chimney to produce a draught, 
the aperture is so much diminished in order to produce velocity of current 
and corresponding increase of draught, that the waste steam is choaked in 
escaping from the engines, and produces a greater loss of power than by 
working the fan. 

From your experience in steam carriages, do you conceive that it will be 
necessary to make any alteration of the present roads, such as paving them 
for the purpose of this mode of conveyance? No, certainly not; we have 


103 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

found that our vehicles will travel over every kind of road with great velo¬ 
city, and up the steepest hills. From observation which I have made very 
minutely on the operations of the vehicle, my decided opinion is, that if 
the common roads were put into a tolerably good state of repair, we should 
be able to carry all the goods which a railway would be able to carry, and 
at much less expense, taking into consideration the original expense of the 
railway, and its continued wear and tear. I believe I have, from a correct 
source of information, that every yard of railway loses on an average about 
four ounces per year in weight when it is in full operation. This loss arises 
from oxydation, and the action of the great numbers of wheels of the car¬ 
riages that pass over it. 

Have you travelled over pavements? Very frequently. 

Did you find that your carriage travelled with greater case over them? 
With much greater case. 

Supposing you had a pavement to run on, what increase of power should 
you gain by running on that rather than on a common Macadamized road? 
We find that when we are travelling on a rough bad pavement, we do not 
consume more than one-fourth of the steam we do on a gravelly soft road. 

You conceive you increase your power I on a paved road? Yes. 

What steepness of hill have you ever ascended? One foot in six; I mea¬ 
sured it myself; that is, the hill at Shirley. 

Were there any symptoms of the wheel slipping in that case? Not the 
slightest: we had both the wheels in gear at the time we ascended it. 

At what velocity did you ascend it? At a velocity of nearly five miles 
an hour. * 

What weight had you? We had fourteen or fifteen persons on the carriage. 

Did you find any difficulty in working? Our engines worked with per¬ 
fect freedom. 

What distance did you travel on that ascent? The hill is about SOOyards long. 

You are now improving the form of the carriage—are you not? Our pre¬ 
sent operations are in improving the form of our vehicle, and the arrange¬ 
ment of the different parts of the machinery. 

For what number of passengers will your present carriage be calculated? 
Eight inside and sixteen outside passengers. 

How many wheels have you? Our present vehicle is on three wheels; 
our proposed carriages will be on four wheels. 

In what space can you turn on a road? We have frequently turned en¬ 
tirely round on the London road leading from Southampton, in the space in 
which a post chaise can turn, or rather less. 

Supposing you were travelling at the rate of ten miles an hour on a level 
road, in what number of feet do you suppose you should be able to stop your 
carriage entirely? We should be able to stop the vehicle in the space of 
twelve feet. I have ascertained this from experiment: when we were des¬ 
cending Staine’s bridge, which is very steep, one of the crowd fell down in 
front of the vehicle, very near the vehicle; we immediately reversed the ac¬ 
tion of the engines, and the man escaped without any injury. 

When you state that you can stop in twelve feet, is that by reversing the 
action of the engines? No; by merely shutting off the communication be¬ 
tween the boiler and the engine. 

But supposing you were in such situation that it would be requisite to stop 
in a much shorter distance, could you do it instantaneously by reversing the 
engine? We could certainly stop in the space of three feet by reversing 


104 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

the engines; but it would not be prudent to do so in less, as it might endan¬ 
ger the lives of the persons on the vehicle by their being pitched or thrown 
forward. 

Have you turned your attention to the question by what mode tolls would 
be most fairly charged on such carriages? I have not turned my attention 
much to that subject. 

What is the horse power of your engine, according to the common modes 
of calculation by engineers? About twenty horse power. 

On the Liverpool and Prescot road, the toll for steam carriages is as fol¬ 
lows: for every carriage not drawn by horses, but propelled or moved by 
machinery, any sum not exceeding the sum of is. 6d. for each horse 
power: would you be able to run your coach, subject to a toll so high as that? 
We certainly should not be able to run it to any advantage. 

What advantage in point of expense do you anticipate to the public 
from the use of steam in propelling carriages over that by horses? I have 
no doubt that when they arrive at tolerably practical state of perfection, 
passengers will be carried the same distance which they are carried now by 
horses, at the same velocity, for one half of the expense; it may be even at 
less than that in future. 

What mode should you suggest as the fairest for placing tolls on those 
carriages, by passengers, by the wheels, by the horset power, or by the 
weight? I should certainly suggest that the tolls should be levied by the 
number of passengers the vehicle carries, provided the breadth of the tires 
of the wheels be increased in proportion. As to vehicles for carrying mer¬ 
chandise, Lthink the tolls should be in proportion to the weight which such 
vehicles are capable of carrying—the velocity of the vehicle travelling on 
the roads not materially affecting the state of them. 

Many turnpike acts having passed this session, which place tolls on steam 
carriages, how would Parliament be able to adopt one principle of placing 
toll on the passengers? The proprietors of steam vehicles will always carry 
as many passengers as they can, and the greatest number of passengers that 
they are able to carry should be the standard at which the tolls should be 
levied. 

Supposing that, on two roads, the toll on a coach calculated to carry eigh¬ 
teen persons, was 2s. and on the other 3s. how would you propose that any 
scale should be adopted by which a toll could be introduced applicable to 
both those roads? My opinion is that the toll on steam carriages ought not 
to exceed one half of the toll paid by other vehicles drawn by horses, be¬ 
cause they do not injure the roads more than in that proportion, probably 
not so much, the tires of the wheel having been increased in proportion. 

Your new carriage will be calculated for twenty-four persons—the average 
of coaches carry eighteen at their utmost—how would you proportion the 
tolls on your carriage and on carriages drawn by horses? My opinion is, 
that it would be but justice that the steam vehicle in such case should not 
pay even more than one-half that which is paid by other vehicles carrying 
the same number of passengers; therefore, supposing the average of coaches 
carried sixteen passengers, and that the toll charged upon them was 2$., the 
toll paid by the steam vehicle, carrying twenty-four passengers, should be 
Is. 4 d. 

What do you think ought to be the breadth of the tire of a steam carriage 
calculated to convey sixteen passengers? Three inches. 

What do you think should be the breadth of the tire of a carriage calcu- 


105 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

lated to convey twenty-four passengers? Not less than four inches; proba¬ 
bly it may be found advantageous to make the tire wider than that in prac¬ 
tice; I think it probably will. 

Do you think that steam carriages should be licensed to carry a certain 
number according to their power? I think they should. 

What do you mean by their power? It will be to the advantage of every 
steam coach proprietor to carry as many passengers as he can, giving each 
passenger sufficient accommodation, and he should have a license for that 
number and no more: each of the passengers should have the same quanti¬ 
ty of space allowed them as .they have in the present vehicles drawn by 
horses; it is my opinion it should be the comfort of the passengers which 
should be consulted. 

Should you have no reference in the license to the power of the engine? 
I think not; because the danger does not increase j as the power of the en¬ 
gine increases. 

How would you suggest that an equivalent duty should be placed on 
steam carriages, so as not to give them an unfair advantage over common 
coaches? I am not able to give any opinion upon that subject. 

Can you give any reason why the same amount of duty should not be 
charged on steam carriages as is charged upon the present stage coaches? I 
cannot give any reason, except that I think it would be extremely improper 
to place such duties on steam vehicles, in their present infant state, as to 
crush so important an invention. 

Mr. Joseph Gibbs, again called in, and examined. 

Have you any observations to make, in addition to your evidence give 11 
last Wednesday? With a view of giving my opinion upon the best metho^ 
of collecting tolls from steam carriages, I will commence by stating that 
steam carriages can be constructed upon three several principles; my object 
being to show this honorable committee the difficulty in collecting tolls from 
steam carriages, except by the number of wheels, without stopping the pro¬ 
gress of that improvement in which they stand so much in need. Steam 
carriages can be constructed as follows: first, steam carriages which propel 
themselves, and carry the supply of water and fuel, likewise passengers and 
goods; second, steam carriages which propel themselves, and carry the sup¬ 
ply of water and fuel, but draw the load after them in a separate carriage or 
carriages; third, steam carriages which propel themselves, and partly 
carry passengers, goods, fuel and water, and draw the rest in a separate car¬ 
riage or carriages after them. This will show the great difficulty of levying 
atoll upon the weight of steam carriages; as, for instance, 600 lbs. of water and 
100 lbs. of coke are requisite per hour on an even road, with a steam carriage 
as now constructed; b % ut upon a road, abounding with hills, 1,000 lbs. of water 
and 160 lbs. of coke will be required. Now if the weight is taken when the 
water and fuel are one half diminished, say on the average 400 lbs. of wa¬ 
ter and 65 lbs. of coke, and the toll is levied upon the weight of the steam 
carriage, the carriages (being drawn) paying as ordinary carriages, the 
weight of water and coke can be transmitted to those carriages which pay¬ 
ing, not by weight but by the number of wheels, will of course receive an 
augmentation of from five to six hundred pounds additional weight. Like¬ 
wise the danger from explosion will be increased if tolls are collected upon 
the weight of steam carriages, inasmuch as by loading the safety-valve to 
double the pressure, a carriage can be made to draw double the weight 
14 


106 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

with only an alteration in the fire place, and an increase of water, air and 
fuel; a diminution of weight will likewise take place to a considerable 
amount in the boilers and engines, although it is more essential an increase 
of strength should take place rather than any diminution. I can state a 
case in point. I have a steam carriage now constructed, from which I could 
abstract 900 lbs. of iron without making it too weak to travel even on rough 
roads, but I should not be induced to do so except as a matter of economy 
in case the tolls are levied upon the weight, and at too high a rate. The 
steam carriage as used upon common roads, being an invention of recent 
date, sufficient has not been done with them for practical men to decide what 
arrangements of machinery are best for their construction. It may be found 
hereafter that it is proper to place the engine in one carriage and the boiler 
in another, and blowing apparatus in another, all carrying other weights, 
so that three distinct carriages (although they each carry only a part of a 
steam engine with them,) yet if so arranged, and tolls are collected by the 
weight of the steam engine, the whole of these carriages would be liable to 
pay toll by weight. I think that, in carrying heavy goods, it is more than 
probable the steam engine will be on a separate carriage, and the power trans¬ 
mitted te the hind axle of the carriage containing the goods, by means of 
a flexible bolt or intermediate wheels, in order to obtain a slow motion of 
the carriage, the speed of the engines being the same; but does not this con¬ 
nect them, so that they may be considered as one carriage, and liable to pay 
by weight? As it is probable that steam carriages or locomotive engines 
will be used for ploughing, or to draw the plough to it, the engine remain¬ 
ing during that time in its location, and only moving when the plough has 
completed its furrow, yet, in going and returning to the field, it may travel 
upon a turnpike road, and be subject to the toll of a steam carriage; an en¬ 
gine of this description will be very heavy, and, unless a provision is made, 
the farmer would be obliged to attach horses to it to prevent its being con¬ 
sidered a locomotive engine. It appears to me that the only method of 
collecting tolls is by payment (under proper regulation) on the number of 
wheels employed, and not on the weight of an}' part of the train, for if 
one part pays by weight and the other upon the number of wheels, the 
weight can be removed to a dangerous extent from the part paying by weight, 
and placed to an injurious extent upon the part paying by the number of 
wheels. I can well appreciate the difficulty the committee must have to 
contend with in coming to a just decision as to the best method of levying 
tolls. I have been a number of years constantly having new inventions 
under my consideration, as well as being the inventor of several patent in¬ 
ventions which are now in full operation: therefore, without presumption, I 
feel myself qualified to give an opinion. I have constantly observed that 
all new invented machines entirely change shape, dimensions, weight and 
general arrangement of parts as they proximate to perfection, so that the 
perfect machine could not be recognized, by persons unacquainted with the 
subject, as being intended for the same purpose as the original machines, yet, 
during all these successive alterations, the principle of the machinery re¬ 
mained unchanged. I make these observations to show the difficulty of an¬ 
ticipating the ultimate power and dimensions of locomotive carriages. 

Will you exemplify your proposition as to the payment of tolls, giving 
2 s. as the amount of the tolls for a carriage drawn by horses; what amount 
of tolls should be charged on the two following steam carriages, the one 
carriage to carry passengers on itself, and to weigh four tons; and suppos- 


107 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ing in the second, the engine part of the carriage to be separate, the engine 
carriage and the carriage drawn weighing together four tons, should a high¬ 
er amount of toll be chargeable on the one steam carriage than the other? 
I think not. 

Yet the one has four wheels, and the other has eight wheels? My opinion 
is, that it ought to pay the same tolls it does now, supposing they are of equal 
weight, the diminution of the horses being taken into account. 

Then your proposition would be resolvable into charging tolls by weight? 
Of course; I contemplate that a regulation will take place, that only a cer¬ 
tain weight shall be placed upon the wheels, and the width of the wheels 
will come under a regulation. 

Then it becomes absolutely a toll on weight? Not exactly so; I am only 
stating the limits I think they ought to carry. 

In the case stated on the one steam carriage carrying the passengers with 
the engine, and the second the engine being placed in a separate carriage 
from that containing the passengers, both carriages being of equal weight, 
that of four tons; but in the one case there being eight wheels, and in the 
other only four, would you charge a different amount of toll on those two 
carriages? I would charge in proportion to the weight carried. In stating 
this, I conceive that there should be a maximum weight which steam car¬ 
riages ought not to exceed. 

What should you suggest as the standard of weight? I have not turned my 
attention to that part of the subject, but I will do so if it is wished. 

Are you aware what the average weight carried in vans is? I have made 
inquiry from van proprietors, and find that they frequently carry six tons, 
including the weight of the van, but the average weight is about four tons, 
and the width of their wheels is from 2k inches to 2\ inches. 

Do you anticipate that steam will be applied shortly for the purpose of 
conveying goods in vans? I believe it will; I contemplate the putting 
some vans on the road to be worked hy steam. 

Will such carriages be on four wheels, or on any greater number? I think 
it probable that they will be on a greater number than four wheels—from 
six to eight wheels. 

What do you conceive to be the maximum weight that ought to be placed 
on a wheel of three inches width? One ton and a half ought to be the ut¬ 
most limit. 


Jovis, 25° die slugusli, 1831. 

Mr. James Stone , called in, and examined. 

What are you? An engineer. 

Have you had the superintendence of Sir Charles Dance’s steam carriage? 
Yes, I have. 

On what road does it run, and how long has it ran on that road? It was 
running regularly from the 21st of February to the 22d of June, inclusive. 

During that period has any accident occurred? Yes, by the breaking of 
the axletree. 

Mention the nature of the accident? We supposed it broke in conse¬ 
quence of an unusual quantity ot stones laid down upon that part of the roid 
that was always the most difficult to pass over: but no accident as to the 




108 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

bursting of the boiler, or any other thing took place, that occasioned any 
unpleasantness, or any thing like a serious accident as to injuring any per¬ 
sons. We had several little stoppages from defective tubes, of which the boil¬ 
er is constructed; but nothing accrued from that, except merely stopping the 
progress of the carriage. 

Was the carriage able to work with the axletree broken across? It 
broke about a mile and a half from Cheltenham, and it came back all the 
way to Gloucester, notwithstanding the axletree being broken: one of the 
engines was able to work during that time, and, of course, having only one 
engine, when it came to a hill, the men were obliged to assist it over the 
centre, as there was no momentum. 

Can you state, accurately, the weight of the carriage? I cannot. 

As far as you have observed, is the injury done to the roads by the pass¬ 
ing of the carriage, greater or less than that by a carriage drawn by horses? 
I think, taking the horses into the account, the injury must be much less; 
the tire of the wheels three and a half inches wide, whereas many of the 
tage coaches are as heavy as the steam carriage, and with narrower wheels: 
and I think it is only fair to take the weight of the horses into the account, 
which I have found to be from eight to ten hundred weight each horse; con¬ 
sequently, four horses would weigh from a ton and a half to two tons. 

You are answering now from theory—you were directed to answer from 
observation? From observation,! do not think that the steam carriages in¬ 
jure the road so much from the wheels being wider. 

How frequently do you clean the tubes of the boiler? It would be neces¬ 
sary to clean them once a month; I should recommend that, but if they 
were actually cleaned once in three months they would not give away: it 
depends upon the quality of the water made use of. 

Is there great facility in cleaning them? Very great; it is merely remov¬ 
ing oppsite the end of the orifice of the tube the screw-bolt; it is only to 
withdraw the screw-bolt and introduce the cleaning rod. We are in the 
habit of blowing out the tubes every two or three days to cleanse them. 

What is the greatest number of passengers you have taken on that car¬ 
riage? Thirty-six. 

Thirty-six passengers and their luggage? Yes, but being a short stage, 
there is never much luggage. 

What do you suppose is the greatest weight you could draw by that car¬ 
riage, at the rate of ten miles an hour? From forty to fifty hundred weight; 
it is found to be drawn much easier by dividing the weight into two carri¬ 
ages than taking it in one only. 

Do you work, on »n average, at half your utmost power of working with 
safety to the engine? I should think we did. 

Full half? Yes. 

Do you think more than that? It depends so much upon the state of the 
fire. 

The question>as, do you work, on an average, at half your full power? 
Yes, I should think we did. The greatest weight we ever drew on the 
common road, at a rate of from five to six miles an hour, was eleven tons. 

Is that merely by guess, or did you actually weigh? By weight; we 
made the experiment on the Bristol road. 

What should you suppose to be the weight of the drawing carriage? The 
weight of that was upwards of two tons. 

Th.,n it drew five times its own weight? Yes, it did; the eleven tons I 



[ Doc. No. 101. ] 109 

have stated, included the weight of the drawing carriage; and I did no 
consider that the maximum power, at all. 

Did you ever try it at a less velocity? No, because, in applying the 
greatest power, we confine both the wheels to the engine. 

Did you draw the nine tons with only the power of one wheel? Yes. 

Are you able, from the two circumstances you have mentioned, to say, 
that, at three miles an hour,you could draw considerably more weight? Yes, 
I have no doubt of it whatever. 

On what breadth of tire was that weight drawn? I think the tire was 
five inches of the propelling carriage. 

For what distance did you continue to draw that nine tons? A mile and 
a quarter. 

Did the road vary in its inclination? Yes, a little; the greatest elevation 
could not be more than one in twenty-five. 

Did you ascend an inclination of one in twenty-five with that weight?. 
Yes, we did. 

For what distance? From twenty to thirty yards. 

And, on the average of the mile and a half, and it an ascending or a des¬ 
cending road? It was both; there were little undulations in the road. 

Can you measure accurately the power you are employing at any particu¬ 
lar time—have you any gauge? No, we have never applied one; I have 
conceived one, and am going to apply it. 

The barometer tube? Yes, that is the one. I think it right to state, 
that the wheels were taken off that measured five feet diameter, and others 
were substituted, measuring only three feet diameter. 

Do you wish to have it inferred from that, that you employed, in both 
cases, the same amount of power? There must have been a little more 
power with wheels of three feet diameter. 

Do you think you exerted your utmost power when you were drawing 
nine tons? No, and for the reasons stated, that there was only one wheel 
affixed to the engine. 

May you not exert your utmost power upon one wheel, taking into con¬ 
sideration that the strain is greater? No, the wheel would slip round. 

Was the surface of the road on which you tried that heavy weight broken 
up, or in any way rough, to give a greater amount of friction? No, it was 
a good hard road. 

What proportionate charge do you make for conveying passengers be¬ 
tween Cheltenham and Gloucester? One shilling. 

What do the coaches charge? Half a crown the four-horse coaches, and 
two horse coaches 2s. 

Travelling at the same speed, do you think you could charge in the same 
proportion? Yes. 

There would be a saving to the public of more than one-half? Yes. 

Have you taken many passengers? Yes, a great number; from February 
to June, between three and four thousand passengers. I have a book con¬ 
taining an account of the number of minutes that each journey took. 

The committee have received a letter from the surveyor of the Glouces¬ 
ter and Cheltenham road, stating that there is*a very great noise proceeding 
from this carriage? I have not heard that observation generally; there is a 
little noise, but not much. 

With red hot burning coals falling on the road continually, or whenever 
the fire was moved? That has taken place when the ash pit has been burnt 


110 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

out, but that is not necessary. The carrriage I have recently fitted up will 
not he subject to that. 

You are of course aware that the letting coals drop is desirable to be ob¬ 
viated? Yes, and that I have guarded against. 

He also states few animals will pass it without being frightened; and of¬ 
ten the traveller was obliged to take his horses into the fields adjoining the 
road; and very many who did not use that precaution had been placed in 
th3 most perilous situations; and that a gentleman’s carriage in the neigh¬ 
borhood, was overturned from the horses taking fright at it? Yes, I have 
understood that; but that carriage has been overturned once or twice owing 
to the carelessness of the driver. I have seen the gentleman, and he did 
not think any thing of the accident, the coach turned round, and the coach¬ 
man jumped off, but I never saw any thing bordering upon an accident dur¬ 
ing the time I was with it. 

He states that persons have completely deserted that road? I have never 
known but one individual that has been against it at Gloucester; but I have 
seen horses take fright at a stage coach and not at our carriage. In one in¬ 
stance, going out of Gloucester, we were just behind the stage coach, and a 
horse in a chaise coming past took fright at the stage coach, and when he 
came up to us he took no notice of us, and therefore, I am fully persuaded, 
that horses do not take more fright at us than at a loaded stage coach, from 
the observations I have made upon a number of experiments. 

Were there 14 inches of stone laid on the road at the time the accident 
happened of the breaking the axlelree? Yes, it was; when the stones were 
levelled, they measured seven inches, but, at that time, they were merely 
laid across the road, so that the carriage could not pass them without go¬ 
ing through them. 

Do you know that the passengers on the common stage coach got out and 
helped the coach along? No, I do not know it: I only heard it, I do not 
know it. 

Mr. James M^Adam^ called in, and examined. 

Are you surveyor of the Holyhead line of road? As far as St. Alban’s. 

Have you the superintendence of any other portion of it? Of no other 
portion of it. 

Have you had considerable experience in road-making, and superintend¬ 
ing roads? Yes, for the last fourteen years. 

Have you made any experiments, or are you able to give any information 
to the committee, as to the comparative wear of .roads, or injury to roads 
by carriages and horses passing? I have generally found that horses’ feet 
do very great injury to the surface of a well-made road; and I am of opinion 
that a carriage, with properly constructed wheels, does less injury to a road 
than the horses drawing. 

Would you explain what the operation of the injury done to the road is 
by travelling on it; is it the wear of the road, or the displacement of the 
materials? Both take place; the wheels, to a certain degree, wear out the 
material, but, upon'aroad properly constructed, and that has become con¬ 
solidated, and the surface smooth, that wear is very small and gradual; the 
injury to the road from the horses’ feet, more especially upon gravel and 
flint roads, arises, particularly in dry weather, from the knocking up and dis¬ 
placing the materials upon the surface, and each succeeding journey adds 
to the evil, and were it not for the effect of the wheels following the horses 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 111 

in mitigation of that evil, we should have the flint and gravel roads all 
loose throughout the whole summer. 

But the wheels of the carriage do not actually follow in the track of the 
horses? But in roads of much thoroughfare, especially near the Metropolis, 
other carriages do. 

On the Metropolis roads, have you made any new regulations as to the 
mode of charging tolls by weight or otherwise? In the last act passed for 
the Metropolis roads, the toll was put upon the horse drawing, and a regu¬ 
lation as to the formation and breadth of the wheels expressly enacted, by 
which all wheels were required to be not convex, but a perfectly flat sur¬ 
face, with no projecting nails; but, by the powers granted to the commis¬ 
sioners in that act, that perfectly flat surface was mitigated to a surface not 
exceeding a quarter of an inch from the flat surface; to meet the practical ef¬ 
fect arising from the wear of the wheels upon the road; and to prevent litiga¬ 
tion at the several gates, by applying a guage, a toll of 3d. per horse for 
each seven miles is payable upon a six-inch wheel so constructed; a quarter 
more upon a wheel go constructed of four inches and a half in breadth, and 
a half more upon a wheel less than four inches and a half. Those additions 
do not apply to stage coaches or carriages with springs. The toll upon all 
horses drawing carriages and coaches with springs is 3d. a horse for seven 
miles, whatever may be the breadth of the tire. 

You have had no reference to the weight of the carriage drawn in your 
rate of the tolls? There is no reference to the weight drawn in any wagon 
or such like carriage, provided the wheel is of the construction required by 
the act, and the result of some years’ experience proves that no injury what¬ 
ever is sustained upon a well-made road, from any weight practically car¬ 
ried in wagons, or such like carriages, with wheels as described. 

You do not mean that the committee should infer weight is of no conse¬ 
quence, but that the power of the horse will be your guard against an over¬ 
weight being drawn? Yes; the toil being laid per horse, I consider that 
the penalty in the shape of toll per horse, more than compensates for the 
injury done by the weight. Before those regulations took place, the roads 
in truth sustained an equal pressure, from the well known fact that the 
weighing engines were universally compounded for by all the carriers, and 
that the roads, after these regulations, had no greater but even Jess weights 
to sustain than before that took place, and it was observing that fact, which 
induced the commissioners of the Metropolis roads to do away with all the 
weighing engines. 

Do you know whether the Holyhead road commissioners are trying to 
do away with the necessity of weighing engines? Upon the trusts, on that 
line of which I am surveyor, the trustees have done away with all the 
weighing engines, and the happy result of compelling the wagons to set out 
and arrive upon the Metropolis roads with properly constructed wheels, has 
had the effect of enabling the trustees upon all the roads within a circle of 
fifty to eighty miles, to dispense with the weighing engines; also, because if 
the wagons set out and arrive in the Metropolis district with a properly 
constructed wheel, it was not worth their while to alter it, but to travel 
throughout to Cambridge, Newmarket, &c. with the same wheel; and the 
benefit of the metropolis wheel has extended itself in consequence. 

Then supposing a broad wheel wagon with dished wheels was to pass 
through your turnpike, what rate would be charged? It would be charged 
the highest rate of a narrow wheeled wagon. 


112 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Have you heard any complaints from the wagon masters of the regulation 
of the form of the wheel? On the contrary, a few days since, we had a peti¬ 
tion most numerously signed by the wagon masters from Norwich, Cam¬ 
bridge, Newmarket, &c., requesting the trustees of the Wadesmill road to 
dispense with use of their weighing engine, they having found by experi¬ 
ence that the wheels required by the Metropolis commissioners, were not 
only best for the road, but the most advantageous for themselves to use, and 
inconsequence of that application, on Friday last, the only remaining en¬ 
gine on the roads of which I am surveyor, was ordered to be abandoned. 

Can you state the weights of a loaded stage coach, and a loaded wagon, 
and a loaded van, on the average? I should state a stage coach loaded, at 
from two and a half to three tons; a wagon from live tons to seven and a 
half. 

Does that include the weight of the wagon? Eight tons would; I should 
think the weight of the vans about four or five tons. 

Hare you observed the operation of wheels when they are dragged? 
Yes; they are injurious upon roads newly coated certainly, but upon an old 
road, I mean a road that has become consolidated upon the surface, the in¬ 
jury, with proper skid pans is but small, and confined of course to one side 
of the surface of the hill. 

Do you think the efficacy of your toll in protecting the road is equally ap¬ 
plicable to a heavy van as a loaded coach? I think that the toll per horse 
will always be a sufficient guard for the weights drawn, the van being on 
springs does infinitely less injury in proportion than such a weight without 
them. 

But if the injury to the road proceeds from the weight the horses have to 
draw, the same rate of toll would not be applicable to a carriage of two tons 
and one of six tons, both being drawn by four horses? Certainly not; but 
that is a supposition hardly fair to be taken, because we conclude that the 
additional weight requires additional horses. 

But in practice the vans pass all through the country with only four horses, 
and the coaches equally with four horses? That is true; the coaches go at 
a much more rapid pace. 

Do you think that the velocity with which a coach goes, has any thing to 
do with the wear of the road, or is it not actually less injurious in propor¬ 
tion to its velocity? In some instances, where any blow takes place, the 
speed does more injury to the road by crushing the materials. 

You did not contemplate the general use of vans when thatact was drawn 
up? No; not that they would come into such general use. 

What proportion of the injury to the road do you think takes place from 
the changes of the atmosphere; frost and wet, has it any material effect? 
Yes, decidedly, in chalk soils in particular; at Royston, and through that 
country, a great and serious injury takes place upon the breaking up of all 
frosts, nor can we, by any care or attention or strength of surface of the road, 
prevent that taking place; it comes in a very eccentric manner, and breaks 
up one year at one part of the road, and another at another, occasioned in a 
great measure by the standing of the water in the sub-soil; and I suppose 
also, by the way in which the wind is at the time it freezes. It is the 
modern practice of road making to abstain from all general repair of'the 
roads from the middle of April until the middle of October; during that 
period, the only repairs that ought to take place are partial coatings, neces¬ 
sary from accidental circumstances. As soon after the middle of October 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 113 

as possible the general coating takes place in pieces of the road at a time so 
as to interefere and interrupt as little as possible with general travelling, 
and we endeavor, by the month of February, to have the whole of the 
coatings put on; in no instance above a sixth part at a time. 

On your line, the committee find that the course of horizontal traction 
varies from 42 to 140; with these remarks, in the case of 42 “ granite sur¬ 
face of many years standing,” and the 140 “ smooth surface road made of 
broken granite;” can you explain why such a difference should take place, 
both being smooth surfaces? I am quite unable to account for it; no coat¬ 
ings of dirt upon a granite road ought to have produced so great a difference. 

Have you witnessed the operation of a carriage propelled by steam on 
the public roads? I have observed it; but in a small degree. 

Who was the proprietor of the carriage you noticed? I think it was Mr. 
Gurney’s; I accidentally saw it. 

Then you only saw it once? Only once. 

What was the state of the roads when you saw it? Tolerably good at the 
time; I saw it in the Regent’s park. 

Were they in such a state you could make any observation upon the 
greater or less injury produced by it than by a common carriage? I cannot 
say that my attention was directed at that time to that fact; I have not had 
an opportunity practically of seeing the effect of steam carriages upon roads; 
there have been none used near us except passing down to Virginia water, 
&c.; but not being brought into general use, I have not seen sufficiently the 
effect of their wheels upon roads. 

From the experiments you have before stated, what should you recom¬ 
mend should be the breadth of the tire of the wheel of a carriage with four 
wheels weighing four tons? I consider that a carriage of any description 
required to carry a great weight, five or eight tons, ought to have a wheel 
of four inches and a half in breadth, constructed agreeably to the clause in 
the Metropolis act; and l consider that a carriage with such a wheel, though 
carrying an excessive weight, would do very little injury to the road. 

It has been stated by a previous witness, that a carriage of the weight of 
two tons propelled by steam, drew after it another carriage weighing nine 
tons; what should, from your experience, be the breadth of the tire of the 
wheel of the propelling carriage and the carriage drawn? Looking solely 
to the welfare of the load, I should prefer a wheel of four inches and a half, 
flat on the tire, to any other class of wheel that can be made, being of opinion 
that a greater breadth of wheel cannot at one time touch the surface of a 
well-formed turnpike road. 

Then you would prescribe that breadth as the minimum breadth of 
wheel for any weight? Yes; I do not think any increase of breadth would 
be of any service. 

Supposing two carriages, one drawn by horses, and the other propelled 
by steam, the weight of the steam carriage being four tons, and the weight 
of the carriage drawn by horses being two tons, which would do most in¬ 
jury to the road, provided the breadth of the wheels were the same in both 
cases? I should prefer, with a proper wheel in both cases, the steam carri¬ 
age without the horses, because that question can only be answered with 
reference to the wheel. 

Then, in the case given, if the wheels of the steam carriages were four 
inches and a half, and the wheels of the coach two and a half, which would 
do the greatest injury? The coach, decidedly, drawn by horses, though only 
15 


114 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

two tons and a half, infinitely more; because I consider, that of all classes of 
thoroughfare at present, the stage coach, as usually laden, does us the great- 
est injury. 

Can you suggest any mode by which tolls could be fairly charged on 
steam carriages in relation to the tolls charged on coaches? The mode 
adopted in coaches, of taking toll per horse as well as wagons, has been 
found to answer every purpose, it being, in truth, a penalty upon weight. 
If greater weight is put upon a wagon, a greater number of horses are ne¬ 
cessary to move it, and the parties bring the penalty in the shape of toll in 
their hands. This cannot be applied to steam carriages, and I am at a loss 
to recommend to the committee any general mode, unless the diameter of 
the cylinder or power of the engine could be taken. In the Metropolis act 
of 1829, there is a toll laid upon steam carriages; any carriage that shall be 
in any manner drawn by steam or gas, shall pay the toll that would be paid 
by any carriage drawn by four horses. 

If the power of the engine is equal to any number of horses, you only 
charge the same toll? The same toll. 

Then if a steam carriage drew another carriage after it, or two carriages 
after it, would it be two or three tolls, or one only? Two or three tolls; 
where a steam carriage conveys passengers by drawing another coach, they 
would each pay the toll of four horses: this is a matter still in its infancy; 
in many acts, such as the Lemsford mills act, a toll of half-a-crown was in¬ 
troduced for any carriage drawn or propelled by steam. 

Would not this inconvenience arise from the clause you have read in the 
Metropolis tolls act; it would be a premiumgiven in favor of one description 
of steam carriage over another, though the injury done to the road might be 
in favor of the one less taxed, as in the case of a steam carriage carrying 20 
passengers, and another steam carriage drawing a carriage containing the 
same 20 passengers? In that case the toll would certainly be an unjust one, 
and require revision; it was a point not settled, and it was put in merely 
to commence the toll, and call the public attention to it. I beg leave to 
observe, that if these carriages come into general use, they would necessari¬ 
ly require a still greater perfection in the surface of our roads, and also in 
the levelling of the remaining hills; as good surface and little inclination is 
to them of the greatest importance. 

If that is the case, would it not be necessary to lay considerable rate of 
toll upon those carriages, for the purpose of affording the means of execu¬ 
ting those improvements? It is found, that lowering the hills, and improv¬ 
ing the surface of all the roads, is productive invariably of a great increase 
of thoroughfare; and although lowering the hills might be attended with the 
first expense, any excitement that would induce the trustees of the roads to 
keep them in good order, would be at the same time productive of economy, 
a good road being always the cheapest. 

Do you not suppose, if those carriages were in general use, the very ac¬ 
tion of the wheels upon the roads would prevent the necessity of such fre¬ 
quent repairs as are required at present? I should think that the absence of 
the horses’ feet in a great degree upon the roads, would be a very conside¬ 
rable saving; and I have already stated, that these carriages, with properly 
constructed wheels, would be the class of carriages that would do the least 
injury to the roads. 

What is the greatest speed you have known a carriage drawn by horses 
to execute a given number of miles on your trust? I once, by mere acci- 


115 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

dent, came in the Leeds Union coach from Grantham, which is 110 miles 
from London; I got into the coach at three o’clock, and I was in London at 
half after one the same morning; that was at^he time the Leeds Union and 
the Rockingham were racing the whole way up. 

Are you aware that Mr. Telford states in his report on the state of the 
Holyhead roads, that three of the Birmingham coaches perform the journey 
of 110 miles in less than eight hours, without any accident, at the rate of 
thirteen miles and six furlongs an hour? I have frequently heard it stated 
upon the road, though I do not know it of my own personal knowledge. 

Have you any other observations you would wish to make to the com- 
mittee? I am not aware of any point. 

You do not think it will be necessary to limit steam carriages to any par¬ 
ticular number of passengers, provided the wheels were of the dimensions 
stated? If the wheels were of the dimensions and the description stated, I 
should, in reason, be regardless of weight, experience having completely 
proved, with properly constructed wheels, we sustain little or no injury 
from weight. 

What is the maximum weight a road would bear upon each wheel? The 
injury done by weight upon a road in a carriage with proper wheels is 
principally, I might almost venture to say exclusively, to the new coatings; 
if the weight in such carriage is a crushing weight, as applied to the mate¬ 
rials with which the road is made, it does a very considerable injury, and 
therefore were steam carriages to become in general use, it would be a mat¬ 
ter of great importance, that harder material should be introduced, that 
flint should take the place of gravel, and that granite or whinstone take the 
place of flint, which is the principle acted upon by the commissioners of the 
Metropolis roads; but, upon a hard and well consolidated road, a very great 
weight may be sustained without doing comparatively any injury. 

When you state that if steam carriages come into general use harder ma¬ 
terials ought to be used, you suppose that these steam carriages will be 
much heavier than the carriages used at present? Yes; I contemplate that 
they will carry much greater weights. 

Your answer does not apply to carriages that are of the same weight as 
those now used? No; but to carriages of the weight of eight or ten tons; 
when I spoke of the weight of from eight to twelve tons, I supposed a car¬ 
riage with four wheels. 

Upon the present well constructed roads, what weight do you think could 
be put upon them without crushing them? I should not apprehend any in¬ 
jurious result from the general use of steam carriages with properly made 
wheels, carrying upon an average from eight to ten tons. 

Your answer refers to roads that are so well made that the whole pressure 
shall be as that of an arch, but on the average of roads, such as shall be found 
in the country, would you give the same answer? No, certainly not. 

Taking the average of any line of road for a great number of miles, where 
materials less capable of bearing weight must necessarily be used for a con¬ 
siderable proportion of that road, fwhat should you say is the maximum 
weight that should be allowed with reference to the preservation of that 
road on any one wheel of four inches and a half? Two tons. 

Have you ascertained that by experiment? I have not had an opportuni¬ 
ty of judging of it, except in all the wagons that depart from the Metropolis 
that are required to have the wheels constructed in the way I have describ¬ 
ed, some of which carry considerable weights. 


116 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Martis, 6° die Septembris, 1831. 

Mr. John Macneil , civil ejpineer, Daventry; called in, and examined* 

State your profession? A civil engineer; I am at present the resident and 
assistant engineer, under Mr. Telford, to the Parliamentary commissioners 
on the Holyhead road between London and Shrewsbury, and London and 
Liverpool. 

What is the weight, of a coach, a van and a wagon, each carrying what 
would be considered an average load; state also the breadth of the tires of 
their wheels? The weight of four horse stage coaches vary from fifteen cwt. 
and three quarters to eighteen cwt.; most of the Birmingham day and night 
coaches weigh about sixteen cwt., and frequently carry, the night coaches 
in particular, upwards of two tons of goods and passengers, exclusive of the 
coach; yet, taking into consideration the number of times they travel with 
very light loads, I should say that from two tons five cwt. to two tons ten 
cwt., including the carriage, would be a fair average weight during the 
year. The tires of the wheels are mostly two inches, but some of them are 
Jess; those constructed by Mr.jBrown, and used on his patent coaches, have 
the edges chamfered off, so as to give a flat bearing of one inch and a half, 
but from the peculiar manner in which those coaches are mounted with 
springs, I am inclined to think the injury done to the roads by these wheels 
is not so great as it otherwise would be. Some coach wheels that I have 
seen are rounded off, so as to form in the cross section a segment of about 
one inch and three quarters in diameter. The bearing in this case on the 
road, where the surface is hard and smooth, is reduced almost to a point, and 
must be extremely injurous. The coachmen remark that carriages with 
such wheels run wild in descending hills in summer, but heavy in winter, 
and when the roads are soft and muddy. The mail coaches weigh very 
nearly twenty cwt. Some of them, the Holyhead coach for instance, fre¬ 
quently carries upwards of a ton of letters and parcels, independent of pas¬ 
sengers and their luggage. The average weight of the whole may probably 
be taken at two tons. Some others, the Liverpool day mail for instance, 
travel very light, and probably will not average one ton and a half. The 
breadth of tire of mail coaches is two inches and a quarter; the four horse 
vans, which travel about six miles an hour, weigh on an average four tons 
and a quarter, including the carriage; the breadth of tire of one which I mea¬ 
sured was two inches and a half, but I am not prepared to say that this is 
the general size of such wheels; the horses used in these carriages are of the 
very best and largest description, which, added to so great a weight on nar¬ 
row wheels, probably renders this carriage more injurious to the public 
roads than any other description of vehicle at present employed. There 
are four descriptions of wagons in general use, the eight horse wagon, the 
six horse wagon, the four horse wagon, and the farm wagon, which is drawn 
sometimes by two, three or four horses, according to the load. The eight 
horse wagons, though frequently weighing, with the load, seven tons, may 
probably be averaged at not more than six tons the year round; the wheel 
is nine inches in the tire, but, from a very improper plan followed in its 
construction, the bearing on a hard solid road is only three inches, for these 
wheels are generally shod with three hoops of three inch iron, the centre 
one of which is of a greater diameter than the others, and projects full half 
an inch beyond them, which, on weak roads, such as in the neighborhood of 
London, must be most injurious. I have measured one since I came to 


117 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

London, which travels on the Bath and Bristol road, the outer rim is coni¬ 
cal; and cah certainly never come in contact with the road surface, unless it be 
one on which the wheel would sink two or three inches. The section of the 
wheel is represented in the following sketch $ the six horse wagons, with 
their load, generally weigh four tons and a half; their wheels are six inches 
wide, and of a better description than the former, though sometimes one of 
their hoops projects beyond the other, as in the case of the nine inch wheel; 
the four horse wagons, with their load, commonly weigh three tons and a 
half, their wheels are four inches wide, and are more upright than the 
others, and have a more level bearing on the road; the farm wagons, used 
in Northamptonshire, weighs, on an average, one ton one cwt., Jhe breadth 
of a wheel is three inches, and it carries from one ton to three tons, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances, and lasts nearly twenty years. 

On an average line of road of not less than 100 miles, on which, in many 
places, materialsof very inferior description must have been used, both in its 
formation and subsequent repair, what is the maximum weight per wheel 
(say if not less than four inches width of tire,) which should be carried on 
any kind of carriage (carriage weight included,) without risk of injury to 
the road? On a road, such as here described, the injury will be considerable 
by any wheel passing over it; but without a more defined statement of the 
quantity and quality of the materials used, I do not think this question can 
be answered with any degree of certainty. On all gravel roads, however, 
made, without a foundation or bottoming, I should say the weight, on a four 
inch wheel, should not exceed fifteen cwt., and on a wheel less than that ten 
cwt. on the generality of roads, throughout the country, I do not think it 
would be safe to run a carriage with almost any width of wheel if the load 
much exceeded ten tons; in fact there are some bridges even between London 
and Birmingham, that it would be running a risk to pass over with a car¬ 
riage weighing ten tons. 

Can you, from observation, say what proportion the breadth of the tire of 
wheels should be to the weight? The breadth of tire in proportion to the 
weight, will depend entirely upon the description of road over which the 
carriage passes; on such a road as that lately constructed by the parliamenta¬ 
ry commissioners of the Holyhead and Liverpool roads, at the Highgate 
Archway, I have frequently observed wagons, carrying upwards of six tons 
pass over it; the weight of each wheel on the road was then about thirty 
cwt.; and though the bearing of the wheels, from the cause I have before 
stated, was not more than three inches, the effect produced was impercepti¬ 
ble. The pressure, in this case, was ten cwt. on every inch, which is unques¬ 
tionably too much for the generality of roads; but if we take the road from 
London to Shrewsbury, as a criterion to judge by, I should say that awheel 
ought to be an inch in width for every ton that a carriage and its load would 
weigh; and that if every carriage that now travels that road, was limited 
not to exceed that proportion, the roads would be better, and maintained at 
a cheaper rate than at present. According to the average weight of coaches 
and wagons, as hefore stated, I have calculated the following table, show¬ 
ing the weight at present carried on each inch of bearing, and what I con¬ 
ceive might be the breadth of the different wheels if they were made 
cylindrical with an even bearing, and in the proportion of one inch of width 
for every ton including the carriage. 


118 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


Description of 
carriage. 

Velocity in 
miles per 
hour. 

Weight, ui 
an average, 
in tons. 

Breadth of 
the wheels, 
in inches. 

Pressure of 
each wheel, 
in cwts. 

Pressure on 
each inch, in 
cwts. 

Breadth of 
wheel, calculat¬ 
ed in the propor¬ 
tion of 5 cwt. to 
the inch. 

Mail coach 

9 toll 

2 

2i 

10.0 

4.40 

2 

Stage coach 

8 to 11 

21 

2 

12.5 

6.25 

2i 

Van 

6 to 7 

4* 

2i 

21.25 

8.29 

4* 

Wagon 

2\ to 3 

6 

9 

25.0 

2.77 

6 

Ditto 

2\ to 3 

4 h 

6 

22.5 

3.75 

4i 

Ditto 

to 3 

Si 

4 

17.5 

4.37 

Si 


State your opinion as to the relative wear of a road by two carriages, 
both drawn by four horses, one carriage of two tons weight, with two inch 
tires, the other four tons, with four inch tires? My opinion is, that the 
wear of the roads would in each case be the same, as far as it was affected 
by the wheels of the carriages, probably rather less, by the carriage carry¬ 
ing four tons, on four inch wheels, than by the carriage carrying two tons, 
with two inch wheels; but it must be recollected that both the carriages 
are supposed to be drawn by the same number of horses, and as the horses 
drawing the carriage of four tons, must use greater exertions than those 
drawing the carriage of two tons, I am of opinion that the aggregate wear 
of the road would be more by the transit of the four ton carriage, than by 
that of the carriage weighing two tons. 

How would the foregoing answer be affected by an increase or decrease 
of velocity ki either carriage? If the road over which the carriages are 
drawn be hard, solid and smooth, I think there would be very little increase 
of wear from the effect of the carriage wheels by an increase of velocity; 
but if the road should be uneven or rough, there would be an increase of 
wear, in consequence of the impetus or blow with which the wheels would 
strike the road after passing over the inequalities in its susface, particular¬ 
ly if the carriages were made without springs; but whether the road be a 
good or a bad one, the wear occasioned by the feet of the horses will be 
greater when they travel with an increased velocity: for a coach-horse 
which travels at the rate of ten miles an hour, works on an average 270 
miles in a month, and wears out in that time about four pounds of iron in 
shoes; whereas a wagon horse, which travels at the rate of three miles 
an hour, and works twenty-six miles a day, for four days in the week, goes, 
on an average, 416 miles in the same period of time, and wears out 4.8 
pounds of iron. If the coach-horse travels the same distance, the wear 
would be six-sixteenths, which exceeds the wear of the wagon-horse one- 
thirty-sixth. In the same way might the relative injury caused by the 
wheels of the wagon and the coach be ascertained. 

What is the operation of the atmosphere on roads? Well made roads, 
formed of clean hard broken stone, placed on a solid foundation, are very 
little affected by changes of atmosphere; weak roads, or those that are im¬ 
perfectly formed with gravel, flint, or round pebbles, without a bottoming 
or foundation of stone pavement or concrete, are, on the contrary, much at- 

















119 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

fected by changes of the weather. In the formation of such roads, and 
before they become bound or firm, a considerable portion of the sub-soil 
mixes with the stone or gravel in consequence of the necessity of putting 
the gravel on in thin layers. This mixture of earth or clay, in drv warm 
seasons, expands by the heat, and makes the road loose and open: "the con¬ 
sequence is, that the stones are thrown out, and many of them are crushed 
and ground into dust, producing considerable wear and diminution of the 
materials; in wet weather also, the clay or earth, mixed with the stones, 
absorbs moisture, becomes soft, and allows the stones to move and rub 
against each other when acted upon by the feet of horses or wheels of car¬ 
riages. This attrition of the stones against each other, wears them out sur¬ 
prisingly fast, and produces large quantities of mud, which tend to keep 
the road damp, and, by that means, increases the injury. 

Supposing the actual wear or deterioration of a road to be represented by 
100, and that only coaches, vans and wagons have passed over it during any 
given period, in what proportion would you estimate the effects; first, of 
atmosphere; secondly, of the carriage; thirdly, of the horses? This ques¬ 
tion can only be answered in a general way; no two lines of road would 
probably give results at all similar; much will depend on the manner in 
which the road is constructed, the materials of which it is composed, the 
care bestowed on its drainage, and whether it be in an open situation or 
shaded by trees. If the road be properly made, and in an open situation, the 
injury arising from the atmosphere will be little, compared with the actual 
. wear caused by the wheels of carriages and the feet of horses, probably not 
ten per cent, during the year; whereas, on weak roads in clay countries, 
every shower loosens the materials of which the road is composed, and 
causes considerable wear, perhaps thirty per cent, or even more in some 
situations, where the road is shaded by trees; to get at something like an 
average proportion between the wear occasioned by horses’ feet and the 
wheels of carriages, I have procured the following facts: the coaches which 
run between London and Birmingham, require an hundred horses on an 
average, to work the up and down coach; the horses are generally shod by 
contract, at about 2s. 6d. per horse per month; those near London are much 
larger and heavier, and therefore require heavier shoes than those twenty 
miles out of London, and from thence to Birmingham; near London, in the 
flint districts, the wear of horses’ shoes is much more than it is in the quartz 
and limestone countries. At Stony Stratford, the weight of the four shoes 
of a mail and stage coach-horse averages five pounds, and when taken off 
at the end of about twenty-eight days, they weigh very nearly two pounds; 
in this period, fhe horses run 252 miles. At Towcester, Weedon and Da- 
ventry, the weight of the new shoes is one pound and a half each, and, 
when taken off, weigh nearly three-fourths of a pound; the length of time 
which they remain on is about thirty days; this would give a wear of three 
pounds per horse per month, but if the greater wear near London be con¬ 
sidered, I think it would not be too much to allow the wear equal to four 
pounds per horse per month, which, for 100 horses for ten weeks, would give 
a wear of 1,000 lbs. of iron. The hind wheels of the coaches are mostly 
four feet eight inches in diameter, and the front wheel three feet. The width 
of tire, I before stated is about two inches, and when new, the thickness of 
the iron is three-quarters of an inch. These wheels are found to last from 
two to three months, according to the state of the weather, the workman¬ 
ship and quality of*iron, (about twenty years ago they did not last seven 



120 


£ Doc. No. 101. J 

days on an average;) suppose they now last ten weeks, in that time the tire 
is worn down to one-sixth of its original thickness. This would be equal to 
163.4 lbs. or 326.8 for both coaches; this would be to the wear of the hor¬ 
ses’ shoes as 326.8 to 1,000, or as 1 to 3-14ths nearly; now if the injury 
done to the road by the horses’ feet and the wheels of carriages be esti¬ 
mated in the same proportion, I think it would probably be near the actual 
effect produced; that is to say, the injury done by the wheels of fast coach¬ 
es is to the injury done by the horses which draw them as one to three in 
round numbers. The effect produced by slow carriages and horses is differ¬ 
ent: a wagon drawn by four horses, which travels regularly from London 
to Daventry at the rate of three miles an hour, is worked by fifteen horses; 
the wagon weighs twenty-five cwt. and carries, on an average, sixty-seven 
cwt.; the hind wheels are four feet eight inches in diameter, and the front 
ones four feet; the breadth of the wheels is six inches; they are nearly up¬ 
right but not cylindrical. The iron tire, when put on, weighs on the fore 
wheel, 285 lbs., on the hind ditto, 396 lbs., making 621 lbs. When re¬ 
moved, the weight is on the fore wheels, 144 lbs., on the hind ditto, 168 
lbs., making 312 lbs.; wear in five months, 309 lbs. The number of miles 
travelled in this time is 6,048; the shoes that are put on the horses employ¬ 
ed to draw this wagon, weigh, when new, from two pounds and a half to 
three pounds each; the average of a great many gave two pounds and three 
quarters, and when removed one pound and a quarter. They last from four 
to six weeks, according to the weather and state of the road; but we may as¬ 
sume five weeks as an average, and the wear in that time for each horse six 
pounds, and for fifteen horses for five months, it would be 360 lbs. The 
proportion in this case would be as 309 to 360, or as one to 1.16, or nearly 
one to H on the generality of roads: therefore, I would say the proportion of 
iujury would be nearly as follows, when travelled by fast coaches: 


Atmospheric changes 

Coach wheels 

Horses’ feet that draw them - 

20 

20 

60 


100 

and when travelled by wagons: 

Atmospheric changes 

Wagon wheels 

Horses’ feet that draw them - 

- 20 

35-5 

44.5 


100* 


What is the effect ol travelling by coaches and horses; whence, and in 
what proportion, does the injury or deterioration arise; the crushing of ma¬ 
terials; their actual wear; their displacement? If the wheels of carriages be 
properly constructed, and cylindrical, the friction, and consequently the 
wear on the surface of a well made road, will be very little, and there will 
be no injury from displacement of materials, except what may arise from 
the few surface-stones that will sometimes be started out by the feet of horses 
on steep hills, when they are obliged to exert a great force to draw up a 
heavy load. When stones are thus thrown out on a hard and solid surface, 
the wheels of heavy carriages will crush them, and cause an injury which 
would be much more than that caused by the actual wear of the wheels pas- 





[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


121 


sing over the surface. If the roads be weak or elastic, and bend or yield 
under the pressure of the wheels, the particles of which it is composed 
will move and rub against each other, or perhaps break by the action of 
heavy wheels over them. On such roads, I conceive the injury caused by 
steam carriages will be much greater in proportion to the injury caused by 
light carriages drawn by horses, than it will be on solid firm roads. In one 
instance, where an accurate experiment was made, the wear was found to 
be four inches of hard stone, when it was placed on a wet clay bottom, 
while it was not more than half an inch, on a solid dry foundation, (form¬ 
ed as described in the report of the select committee on the Holyhead road, 
on the 30th May, 1830,) or with a pavement bottom, on a part of the same 
road, when it was subject to the same traffic. On the Highgate archway 
road before mentioned, the annual wear does not appear to be more than 
half an inch in depth. Now, as this road is very little affected by wet, in 
consequence of its peuliar construction, and the care bestowed on its drain¬ 
age, I attribute almost the whole of the diminution of materials to actual 
wear. On many roads, where the sides are weak, great injury arises from 
the crushing of materials, particularly by the action of wagon-wheels. In 
frosty weather, weak roads very frequently suffer more in one month than 
all the rest of the year. In such cases, the injury is caused by the wheels 
of carriages, and not by the horses’ feet. 

If 30 lbs. be sufficient to move a carriage of 21 cwt. 8 lbs. on a level plat¬ 
form, little affected by friction, and 266 lbs. be required to move the same 
carriage up an inclination of 1 in 10, the pressure in the one case being 
exactly the weight of the carriage, 21 cwt. 8 lbs., what would be the pres¬ 
sure on the road, or platform, on the inclination?—As the pressure on the 
horizontal is to the pressure on the inclined plane, as the length of the plane 

. w b 

is to its base, we have this proportion, v/6 2 +o a :b::W: ——-— =* the 

(o 2 +p 2 )h 

In this example, w=2360. b= 10. /;= 1, which 


pressure on the plane 
gives —. W ^__ =2360x10 




«=2349.5 lbs. or 10£ lbs. less than the pressure 


v'lOO+l 

on the horizontal. 

Taking twenty miles near London, 150 lbs. appears to be the average 
force actually engaged in drawing the carriage of 21 cwt. 8 lbs. including 
hills, would the force required to draw a carriage of 42 cwt. 16 lbs. be on 
an average 300 lbs. and so on in proportion?—the extreme traction of the 
carriage being 343 lbs. what, on this road, would have been the maximum 
force required to draw a carriage of four tons weight? It does not follow 
that because a carriage is twice as heavy as another, that its draught would 
be twice as much. The resistance arising from gravity on the inclined plarfes 
would, abstractly considered, be double, but that part of the resistance aris¬ 
ing from the friction and penetration of the wheels into the surface materi¬ 
als, would much depend on the construction of the carria’ge, and its wheels, 
and the different sorts of roads over which it was drawn. In order to as¬ 
certain the average draught of a carriage of 42 cwt. 16 lbs. over the above 
road, I conceive that the friction of the surface or resistance opposed to the 
motion of such a carriage, should be ascertained on each description of 
road within the above limits, and then by knowing the rates of activity, or 
the amount of gravity acting on each, the average draughts might be ascer¬ 
tained, if the same carriage and wheels were used, but loaded so as to make 
16 







122 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

up 42 cwt. 16 lbs. the average draught. It might probably be calculated 
pretty nearly from the following table of experiments, which, as it may be 
of use in the present inquiry, I here beg leave to hand in; but it must be 
remembered that the proportions given in this table between the increase of 
weight and the increase of draught, will not be the same on every descrip¬ 
tion of road. To be enabled to answer the second part of the question, it 
will be necessary to know the rate of acclivity on which the draught of the 
carriage weighing 21 cwt. 16 lbs. was 343 lbs., and also to know the 
draught of the four ton carriage on the horizontal; but even then a difference 
might arise from the construction of the carriage, and the situation of its 
centre of gravity. 

TABLE of Experiments made on the 28th January 1829, immediately 
after a rapid thaw: the mud was full one and a half or two it\ches 
thick on the road at the time . 


Table I. 


No. of 
Planes. 

Wagon empty, 
weight 1 ton. 

Half a ton in the wagon. 

1 ton 2 cwt. in the wagon. 


Down. 

Up. 

Down. 

Up. 

Down. 

U P . 

1 

30 

99 

45 

145 

58 

210 

2 

64 

88 

105 

120 

125 

150 

3 

75 

85 

115 

120 

135 

155 

4 

75 

85 

105 

115 

135 

155 

5 

80 

88 

105 

125 

135 

165 

6 

85 

93 

105 

135 

135 

170 


Neither the rates of acclivity, or the lengths of the planes, were taken at 
the time, but it might still be done, if thought necessary by the committee, 
as the points are well ascertained. 


Experiments made on a horizontal timber platform in January , 1829. 

Table II. 


# Weight of the wagon 

and load. 

Powers required in lbs. 
to move it. 

Difference between 
empty wagon and load. 

2,240 

29 


2,800 

74 

45 

3,360 

104 

753 ° 

3,920 

140 

111 3 * 


If 266 lbs. be required to move a carriage of 21 cwt. 8lbs. up an inclined 
plane of one in tdn, what amount of weight would be required to keep the 






















123 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

carriage stationary, or to allow it to descend with the slowest possible mo¬ 
tion on the same inclination?—this question has reference to the injury dene 
to the roads by “dragging” the wheels, and subsequently to the slow motion 
of the propelling wheels of steam carriages in descending hills. If the 
base of the inclined plane be 10, and its height 1, the length will be 
\/10*-{-l 2 = x /i01 = 10.05 nearly, and we have the proportion 10*05* 
:1 : : 2360 : 234*82 lbs. the weight which would be required to keep the 
carriage stationary if the surface of the plane was hard and smooth, and 
the mass collected in a point; but, as 266 is stated to be the moving power, 
the resistance arising from the friction of the surface, and the axle trees, 
would, in this case, be 31.18 lbs.; it may be well to observe here, that the 
experiments made on inclined planes, as detailed in the seventh report of 
Parliamentary commissioners of the Holyhead and Liverpool road, were 
not intended for any thing further than to get practical results, the descrip¬ 
tion of which could be easily understood by road surveyors and iheir assist¬ 
ants, and even by men in the habit of driving coaches. It could not be ex¬ 
pected that experiments made with a large unwieidy wagon, mounted with 
common axle-trees besmeared with tar, could furnish results on which to 
found a refined mathematical calculation. I have, however, within these 
few days, commenced a series of experiments, with a small carriage con¬ 
structed on purpose, and furnished with a very delicate instrument for 
measuring the draught. From the little way 1 have as yet gone in these 
experiments, I cannotfurnish any details at present; but I think I am war¬ 
ranted in saying that a very great benefit would arise in the saving of road 
materials, by the adoption of a better method of hanging the coaches, in a 
manner, perhaps, something similar to gentlemen’s carriages. Many of 
these weigh, when fully loaded, two tons, yet a pair of post-horses draw 
them, with apparent ease, the rate of ten miles an hour; and, on some parts 
of the road between London and Birmingham, where the road is tolerably 
level, at a much greater speed: some of the Birmingham and London coach¬ 
es travel the same ground, at twelve miles, and sometimes fifteen m;les an 
hour. This velocity, however, may, in a great measure, be attributed to the 
level and perfect state of that road. 

The details of various kinds of steam carriages have been given to the 
committee; all act without propellers; without projection on the wheels, 
with cylindrical wheels; some with greater or less breadth of tire, even six 
inches wide; the power Is applied either by crank or wheels to one or two 
propelling wheels, according as greater or less force may be required. Some 
of the experimental carriages had three, some six wheels; all will have four 
wheels. Some have the engines in a separate carriage, and draw the load; 
some carry the load and engines on one carriage. Taking the above cir¬ 
cumstances into consideration, which would be most injurious to a road—a 
stage coach, drawn by four horses, weight of coach three tons, horses two 
tons, breadth of tire two inches and a half; or steam coach, wheels four 
inches tire, weight four tons; in both cases velocity ten miles per hour? 
Taking for granted that the injury which a road sustains by the wheels of 
carriages and the feet of horses is proportional to the wear of iron on the 
wheels and on the horses, and that the statement before given as to the actual 
wear on each be found correct, 1 would say the injury done to the road by 
the steam carriage weighing four tons with four-inch wheels, would be less 
than that occasioned by the coach weighing three tons, drawn by four 
horses. 




124 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Would it be beneficial or otherwise to the roads, that steam carriages: 
drawing heavy weights in carriages attached to them, should be substituted 
for wagons drawn by horses, supposing that the weight of the drawing or 
propelling carriage should not in any case exceed the weight of the number 
of horses that would have been used to draw a corresponding weight, e g. 
Wagon - - - - 8 tons 

Eight horses, 15 cwt. each - 6 ditto 

14 

On steam carriage - 4 

Carriage drawn - - - 10 

14?— 

I am of opinion, that if the steam carriage and its accompanying carriage 

constructed with wheels of a proper width, and of the same diameter as 
the wagon wheels, and travel with the same velocity, that the injury on 
well-made solid roads will not be more than that caused by the wagon and 
horses: in fact, if the proportion of injury before stated be correct, it will 
be less; but it must be recollected that weak roads suffer more than solid 
ones from the heavy pressure of wheels, and, in such cases, the steam car¬ 
riage and its tender would be more injurious. 

In descending hills, steam carriages can regulate their velocity by reducing 
the action or number of revolutions of the wheels; this acts as a drag, but 
with the advantage to a road that the wheel moves continually round; which 
would be most injurious to a road, the descent of a carriage dragged as usual 
(not omitting the operation of horses’ feet,) or the steam carriage dragged 
or regulated in the mode described? Not having seen a steam carriage de¬ 
scending a hill in the manner described (that is, regulated by the action of 
the engine on the wheel,) I cannot give a satisfactory answer to this ques¬ 
tion; but, as far as opinion goes, I should say that the joint action of the 
horses and drag would be more injurious than the steam carriage, the motion 
of which was regulated in the above manner, provided the wheels were of 
the proper width, and the total weight not greater than that of the coach 
and horses. 

Various local acts have passed, placing excessive tolls on steam carriages— 
it may be requisite to introduce a general bill, which shall, on such roads, 
place steam carriages on a fair equality (so far as their relative injury or 
wear of road, to common coaches on each such road; the toll on a coach on 
such roads may vary fron one to two shillings, according to local circum¬ 
stances, on a wagon in the same proportion; what standard of charge would 
you suggest for steam carriages? It has been stated to us, that one steam 
carriage has drawn a carriage containing as many as thirty passengers at the 
rate of even ten miles per hour, and nine tons weight at the rate of five 
miles per hour, but with smaller wheels, what regulation would you sug¬ 
gest as to the breadth of tire, or should tolls be chargeable in inverse pro¬ 
portion to the breadth of tire? The toll which carriages propelled by steam, 
or by any other mechanical means, should be required to pay, ought, in my 
opinion, to be in proportion to the injury they would do to the roads com¬ 
pared with that done by the present description of carriages and the horses 
employed to draw them, without reference to the weight or quantity of 


125 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

goods carried; but, as I before stated, I do not believe an accurate estimate 
can be at present formed as to the injury that roads may sustain from steam 
carriages, compared with the injury done to them by coaches drawn by 
horses. It may, however, I think be safely assumed that the injury done to 
a road by a steam carriage would not be greater than that occasioned by a 
stage coach drawn by horses, the weight of the engine and its load being 
supposed not to weigh more than the stage coach, together with its load and 
horses. If this be granted, and an act passed limiting the width of wheel in 
a certain proportion to the weight carried, there would not be much difficul¬ 
ty in arranging a scale of tolls applicable to steam carriages, which would 
put them on an equitable footing with carriages drawn by horses. If, for in¬ 
stance, a proportion, such as I have already mentioned be adopted, viz. that a 
wheel should be an inch in width for every 5 cwt. it has to support, and a 
toll charged for each inch equal to the amount charged for a horse drawing 
in a carriage which travels with the velocity of the engine, it would, in my 
opinion, be a fair and equitable toll, at least for some years, or until a cor¬ 
rect proportion of injury was ascertained by experience and observation, 
when it might be altered or amended according to circumstances. This 
mode of charging toll would he extremely simple, and not likely to be mis¬ 
understood by toll-collectors, or to occasion any disputes; but there should 
be a heavy penalty attached to the proprietors of steam carriages if they 
put a greater weight on the carriage than the wheels were intended to car¬ 
ry. If the engine, instead of carrying the load, draws one or more carriages 
after it, the toll should be collected and charged on each carriage in a simi¬ 
lar manner as it is charged on the engine, that is, in proportion to its wheels. 
An example will illustrate my meaning more clearly: suppose an engine, 
together with its load, to weigh nine tons (which is about the average weight 
of two stage coaches, including the weight of the horses which draw them) 
to pass through a toll-gate where horses drawing coaches are charged 6d. 
each, the toll on the two coaches, would be 45., and of the steam carriage 
4s 6d. Suppose that the^engine, instead of carrying the load, draws a car¬ 
riage after it, and that the weight of the engine is five tons, with live inch 
wheels, and of the accompanying carriage four tons, with four-inch wheels, 
the toll of the engine would be 25. 6d., and of the tender 25., making 45. 6d. 
as before. The only objection I can see to this mode of charging toll on 
steam carriages travelling over the turnpike roads, would be, that, in the 
event of their being able to carry a greater number of passengers at a cheap¬ 
er rate than the present description of carriages drawn by horses, it would 
lessen the amount of toll collected as a fewer number of carriages would 
do the work, and many persons who drive their own horses would travel by 
them if found cheaper to do so; and this circumstance, although it would 
not affect the state of repairing in which the road was previously maintain¬ 
ed, it might lessen the value of property invested in the different turnpike 
trusts throughout the kingdom, which is a very considerable sum; but such 
circumstances should not militate against an invention likely to prpve bene¬ 
ficial to the country at large. 

Give your opinion on the probable extent of injury to roads from steam 
carriages? Generally speaking, I should say that the injury roads will sus¬ 
tain by the introduction of steam carriages will be much less than is com¬ 
monly supposed; but the actual amount of injury, or correct estimate of the 
comparative injury that will be done by a steam carriage, cannot, in my 
opinion, be formed at present with any degree of certainty. Experience 


126 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

alone will decide the point. The only danger, in my mind, that is to be 
apprehended, is the injury which roads may sustain by the possibility of the 
wheel which is acted upon by the engine, turning round without propell¬ 
ing the carriage, in which case the road would suffer considerably; and this 
would take place if a train of carriages were attached to the engine, the 
draught of which was more than the friction or gripe of the engine wheel on 
the surface of the road. As long, however, as the weight is carried by the 
engine, and not drawn after it, nothing of this kind will take place even on 
our steepest hills. 

Have you communicated you conclusions on these subjects to Mr. Tel¬ 
ford? I have. 

Does he coincide with you? Quite so. 

You stated that the only probable injury to the roads from travelling of 
steam carriages, would be the slipping of wheels; would it not be directly 
against the interest of the proprietor that the wheels should slip in any de¬ 
gree, there being a necessary loss of power every time they do slip? Clear¬ 
ly so. 

From your observations of the effects produced by heavy carriages drawn 
by horses in ascending and descending hills, what would be the effect, un¬ 
der similar circumstances, of a steam carriage of weight equal to the weight 
of the coach and horses? I am of opinion that the effect or injury to a 
road would be less by the steam carriage; for when hills exceed a certain 
rate of inclination, gravity overcomes the friction of the surface, and the car¬ 
riages, in descending, press upon the horses, unless a drag be applied to one 
of the wheels. This, in itself, injures the road, but not so much as when no 
drag is used, because the horses are then obliged to bear against the car¬ 
riage, and set down their feet very strongly: this often tears up the surface, 
particularly of weak roads. The time that is lost by the coaches in de¬ 
scending some of the hills on the road between London and Birmingham, 
is full as much as is lost in ascending them, besides the imminent danger, 
even with the greatest caution, on the part of the drivers. If proper springs 
were used, the draught would be lessened, and of course the injury to the 
road would be much diminished. 

On every road there are numerous six horse wagons; you state the weight 
to be four tons and a half, the horses weighing four and a half more, mak¬ 
ing nine tons—should any objection betaken to a single steam carriage of 
this weight, or from nine to ten tons, provided the wheels be of a proper 
description? No; I think in the general state of roads, a steam carriage of 
from nine to ten tons could run with perfect safety, without injury to the 
roads, if it was constructed with proper wheels. 

The above question refers to a steam carriage carrying its load; if the en¬ 
gine carriage were of the weight of four tons, drawing a second carriage of 
the weight of six tons, thus dividing the weight over eight wheels, would 
the effect on the road be less injurious, provided it was four and a half tire? 
I think the injury would be less, provided the engine had the power to pro¬ 
pel itself, and draw a carriage with six tons after it, without a slipping of its 
wheels. 

Carrying this principle further, if the load were divided into two car¬ 
riages, each to weigh three tons, thus dividing the load over twelve wheels, 
would not less injury still be done? Decidedly; particularly on weak 
roads. 

If, under these circumstances, you can diminish the pressure on the road by 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 127 

multiplying the number of wheels, should not care be taken so to frame 
the tolls to be levied as not to discourage the use of those steam carriages, 
whose greater number of wheels could be least injurious to the roads? 
I think that would be regulated by the mode I have suggested of charging 
toll. 

Have you seen Mr. Gurney’s carriage, and examined its effect on the 
roads? I have seen it. 

What state were the roads in, at what velocity was it going, how many 
persons did it carry, and what was its weight? I do not know the weight 
of the carriage, there appeared to be eight or ten people on and about it; 
the road on which I saw it was excessively bad, one of the worst in the 
country; the velocity wasprobably five or six miles an hour. 

Were there other loaded carriages passing along the road at the same 
time? Several; both coaches and wagons. 

Did you remark the effect of the steam carriage on the road, to see that 
it did less or greater injury than the other carriages? I could not perceive 
any difference. 

If there had been any great difference, you would have perceived it? As 
far as leaving a track behind, which would have been perceived, I could not 
ascertain the amount of injury: it was nothing more than that done by com¬ 
mon coaches. 

Do you think it essential that the wheels of steam carriages should follow 
in the same track, provided they have a proper breadth of tire? Not at all 
as regards the injury to the road; it would require more power to work them 
if the wheels did not follow in the same track. 

Supposing the steam carriages, either the propelling carriage and the 
carriage drawn, or the engine carriage carrying the passengers, were gener¬ 
ally to be four tons, what would you recommend to be the minimum breadth 
of tire to either of the carriages? In the present state of steam carriages, 
as applied to the working over turnpike roads, I should say you might limit 
them to not less than four inches for a few years. 

Supposing their average weight never exceeded from six to eight tons, do 
you think four and a half would be a safe minimum? I am inclined to 
think it would be rather too little. 

Do you think it would be necessary to make any alteration in the form of 
the present line of turnpike road for the facility of working by steam? I do 
not think it would be absolutly necessary: it would, however, be of great 
benefit to the country and every person in it, if the hills on the present lines 
of road were more reduced, and the surface strengthened. No road should 
have a greater ascent than one in thirty or one in thirty-five; in almost every 
instance the expense would be saved in horse labor in a few years. The fol¬ 
lowing table will show pretty nearly the increase of expense in transport¬ 
ing goods by stage coaches drawn by horses up planes of different rates of 
ascent. Roads in general have, in some parts, steep ascents; one in fifteen 
between this and Birmingham, for instance, is too much on a road of such 
traffic. The surfaces are not so good generally as they ought to be; the 
roads should be strengthened, either with a pitched bottoming of stone, or a 
concrete mass, such as the Highgate archway, or the new road near Coventry. 


128 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


TABLE. 

Expense of drawing one ton over one mile at different rates of acclivity, 
by a stage coach and wagon. 


Four-horse stage coach, average velo- Wagon, four horses, average velocity 
city 10 miles per hour. 2 \ miles per hour. 


Rates of acclivity. 

Pence and decimals. 

Rates of acclivity. 

Pence and decimals. 




d. 




d. 

1 

in 

10 

77*24 

1 

in 

10 

52 *07 

1 

in 

15 

57*78 

1 

in 

15 

2S-70 

1 

in 

20 

50*47 

1 

in 

20 

22*83 

1 

in 

30 

44*15 

1 

in 

30 

18*55 

1 

in 

40 

41.25 

1 

in 

40 

16*79 

1 

in 

50 

39*56 

1 

in 

50 

15*82 

1 

in 

60 

38*46 

1 

in 

60 

15*20 

1 

in 

70 

37*68 

1 

in 

70 

14*77 

1 

in 

80 

37*09 

1 

in 

80 

14*46 

1 

in 

90 

36*64 

1 

in 

90 

14*22 

1 

in 

100 

36*28 

1 

in 

100 

14*04 

1 

in 

150 

35*19 

1 

in 

150 

13*46 

I 

in 

200 

34*64 

1 

in 

200 

13*18 

1 

in 

300 

34*09 

1 

in 

300 

12*91 

1 

in 

500 

33*65 

1 

in 

500 

12*69 

1 

in 

1,000 

33*32 

1 

in 

1,000 

12*53 

Horizontal 

32*98 

Horizontal 

12*36 


What would be’the difference of expense of pavement, and forming a good 
granite road, in the neighborhood of London; say twenty miles? If you 
take twenty miles, and also take the repairs of the roads for twenty years 
into account, I should say paving would be the cheapest. The great defect 
of all the London pavements arises from want of a strong and firm founda¬ 
tion. In Fleet-street, and some others, this has been partly accomplished 
of late, but certainly not as perfect as it might be. If on the road from this 
to Birmingham there was a portion laid off on the side of the road for steam 
carriages, which could be done without difficulty, and if it be made in a 
solid manner with pitching and well broken granite, it would fall very little 
short of a railroad. My only reason for keeping it distinct from the other 
road, is the evident injury every road sustains from horses travelling over it 
and breaking up the surface, and the steam carriages would be able to go 
with greater velocity if they were not interrupted with droves of cattle; 
besides, it would be easy to fence it off from fifteen to twenty feet, without 
injury to property; and the expense of making a solid road of twelve or 
fifteen feet would not be very considerable. 











129 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 

But have you any doubt whatever that steam carriages can be brought into 
practical use, with great benefit to the public, even on the present lirles of 
turnpike roads? I am quite convinced they can. 

Would the wear of such roads as you have described be much affected by 
the greater or less velocity of the steam carriages? It would be hardly 
affected at all, on a good road, by increased velocity; if any thing, perhaps 
rather less. 

Do you propose in your scheme of toll that weight should be the basis of 
toll, but that the wheel be an index to the weight? Yes, that is the princi¬ 
ple on which I have suggested the scale of tolls. 

How would you check the frauds of proprietors of steam carriages by 
thevr placing a greater weight in proportion to the breadth of tire? I conceive 
the use of the steam carriage would be for passengers solely and their lug¬ 
gage: if the weight was ascertained in the yards at London, Birmingham, 
or Shrewsbury, the intermediate trafic would differ very little, for persons 
going short distances would go by the coaches as at present. 

Would you suggest that a license should be granted to steam carriages, 
limiting the number of passengers they should take in proportion to the 
breadth of tire of the wheel? I think it would be quite as much as the road 
trustees could expect; and by marking in large characters the width of 
wheel on the carriage, it would be a great preventive to the proprietors 
altering the wheels. 

Do you think that, considering the infant state of this invention, that the 
road trustees would practically suffer any great injury or inconvenience by 
merely, for two or three years, placing steam carriages, whatever weight 
they may be, on a level with ordinary carriages, with reference to the toll 
charged for them? Considering the present imperfect state of steam carriages 
for turnpike roads, I think it would do no injury to road trusts if such a 
regulation was adopted. 

Would you place steam wagons on the same footing as wagons drawn by 
horses? Yes, provided the wheels are made, as I described, in proportion to 
the weight; there should be the same toll on a wagon drawn by steam as a 
wagon drawn by horses, that is, the width of wheel should be charged per 
inch as the horses are now charged. 

Should a steam wagon be licensed, as to its weight, in the same manner as 
a steam coach? I think just the same. 

Did you conduct the experiments made on the Holyhead road as to the 
force of traction required on different inclinations? I did. 

Were they carefully made or otherwise? They were carefully made as 
far as the materials would allow; the wagon was a very large one, with 
common axle-trees; the result in some cases differed from two to three 
pounds; on the whole, I should say the results stated in that report do not 
exceed in any case five pounds beyond what they would be found if proved 
by the best practical instruments, and are confirmed by my subsequent ob¬ 
servations and experience. The object we had in view, by these experiments, 
was to show to the trustees and the surveyors of the roads, that a road might 
appear a very good one, and still not be one adapted for traffic. By theses 
means they have perceived the defective parts in the road; and within three 
months after the report of the Parliamentary commissioners became public, 
there was not a hedge on that part of the road where the draught was shown 
to be excessive, that was not cut down, and improvements made on the sur¬ 
face. 


17 


130 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

When you followed Mr. Gurney’s carriage, did you perceive that any 
horses were frightened, or any inconvenience arose to passengers on the 
road? I did not perceive the least inconvenience. I saw several horses pass, 
both gig and saddle-horses, also coaehes, and not one took the least notice 
of it. 


Veneris , 9° die Septembris, 1831. 

Colonel Torrbns, a member of the committee, examined: 

Have you considered the effect which will be produced upon British agri¬ 
culture, by substituting, on common roads, steam carriages for carriages 
drawn by horses? I have. 

What do you conceive that effect would be? I think it would produce 
very beneficial effects upon agriculture. 

State your reasons for believing that agriculture will be benefited by sub¬ 
stituting inanimate for animal power, consuming the produce of the soil? I 
conceive that agriculture is prosperous in proportion as the quantity of pro¬ 
duce brought to market exceeds the quantity expended in bringing it there. 
If steam carriages be employed instead of carriages drawn by horses, it will 
be because that mode of conveyance is found the cheapest. Cheapening the 
carriage of the produce of the soil must necessarily diminish the quantity of 
produce expended in bringing a given quantity to market, and will there¬ 
fore increase the nett surplus, which nett surplus constitutes the encourage¬ 
ment to agriculture. For example, if it requires the expenditure of two 
hundred quarters of corn to raise four hundred, and the expenditure of one 
hundred more on carriage, to bring the four hundred to market, then the 
net surplus will be one hundred. If, by the substitution of steam carriages, 
you can bring the same quantity to market, with an expenditure of fifty 
quarters, then your net surplus is increased from one hundred to one hun¬ 
dred and fifty quarters; and consequently, either the farmer’s profit or the 
landlord’s rent increased in a corresponding proportion. There are many 
tracts of land which cannot now be cultivated, because the quantity of pro¬ 
duce expended in cultivation and in carriage exceeds the quantity which 
that expenditure would bring to market. But if you diminish the quantity 
expended in bringing a given quantity to market, then you may obtain a 
nett surplus produce from such inferior soils, and consequently allow culti¬ 
vation to be extended over tracts which could not otherwise be tilled. On 
the same principle, lowering the expense of carriage would enable you to 
apply additional quantities of labor and capital to all the soils already under 
cultivation. But it is not necessary to go into any illustrative examples to 
explain this, it being a well known principle, that every improvement which 
allows us to cultivate land of a quality which could not previously be culti¬ 
vated, also enables us to cultivate, in a higher manner, lands already under 
tillage. 

If horses were displaced from common roads, would not the demand for 
oats, beans, and for pasture, be diminished, and land thereby be thrown out 
of cultivation, and labor out of employment? If steam carriages were very 
suddenly brought into use, and horses thereby displaced, I think the effect 
stated in the question would be produced for a time; but, practically, steam 
carriages can be introduced only very gradually, and the beneficial effect 



131 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

upon the profits of trade, by bringing agricultural produce more cheaply to 
market, will tend to increase profits, to encourage industry, and to enlarge 
the demand for labor; so that by this gradual process there will probably be 
no period during which any land can actually be thrown out of cultivation, 
the increasing population requiring all the food which horses would cease to 
consume. With respect to demand for labor, that demand consists of the 
quantity of food and raw materials which can be cheaply obtained; and as, 
by the supposition, the displacing of horses will leave at liberty more food 
and more material, the demand for labor will ultimately be greatly increas¬ 
ed instead of being diminished. It has been supposed, I know not how 
accurately, that there are employed on the common roads in Great Britain, 
one million of horses, and a horse, it is calculated, consumes the food of 
eight men. If steam carriages could ultimately be brought to such perfec¬ 
tion as entirely to supersede draught horses on the common roads, there 
would be food and demand for eight millions of persons. But when we 
take further into consideration, that, lowering the expense of carriage would 
enable us to extend cultivation over soils which cannot now be profitably 
tilled, and would have the further effect of enabling us to apply, with a 
profit, additional portions of labor and capital to the soils already under 
tillage, I think it not unfair to conclude, that, were elementary power on the 
common roads completely to supersede draught horses, the population, 
wealth and power of Great Britain would at least be doubled. 

There are soils which are stated to be so poor, that oats alone can be rais¬ 
ed upon them—would not the substitution of steam for horse power have the 
effect of throwing out of employment the labor required for the cultivation 
of such lands? If there are soils of such a peculiar quality that oats is the 
only marketable product which they will yield, the persons employed in 
cultivating those lands would certainly be thrown out of that particular 
occupation; but the extension of tillage over other lands not of this pe¬ 
culiar quality, would create a demand for labor which would much more than 
absorb the persons thrown out from the culture of oats upon that land which 
would grow nothing else. But I doubt of there being any land which it is 
profitable to cultivate, which would not raise some other agricultural produce 
than oats either for man or cattle, for which the increasing population would 
create a demand. 

The general impression on the minds of the committee is, that steam car¬ 
riages will, at least for the present, rather be substituted for horses used in 
conveying travellers, than for the conveyance of bulky articles. Do you 
think that the substitution of steam in this manner will be injurious to agii- 
culture, and to the demand for labor without any adequate compensating ad¬ 
vantages? Upon the case supposed, namely, that steam carriages should be em¬ 
ployed in conveying passengers only, and the whole change to be affected in a 
sudden manner, I think that there would, in the first instance, be a diminish¬ 
ed demand for agricultural produce, but the following process would take 
place. As the demand for agricultural produce was diminished, the price 
of such produce would fall, food would become cheaper, and the cheapening 
of food would benefit partly the laboring class and partly the capitalist—the 
one obtaining higher real wages, and the other higher profits; this increase 
in real wages and profits, would effect a great encouragement to manufac¬ 
turing industry, and would necessarily lead to an increase in the manufac¬ 
turing population, and to the amount of capital employed in manufactures. 
The consequence would be, that, after some degree of pressure upon agricul¬ 
ture, the increased number of human beings would create the same demand 


132 


[ Doc. No. 101. j 

for agricultural produce which the e mployment of horses formerly created. 
So that even upon the extreme and most improbable supposition that steam 
carriages should never bq employed in conveying agricultural produce to 
market at a cheaper rate, still the benefit to the country would be very great, 
inasmuch as we should have a vastly increased industrious population, and 
England would become much more extensively, than she is at present, the 
great workshop of the world. In point of fact, superseding horses by me¬ 
chanical power, would have precisely the same effect in increasing the pop¬ 
ulation and wealth of England as would be produced were we to increase 
the extent of the country by adding thereto a new and fertile territory, 
equal in extent to all the land which now breeds and feeds all the horses em¬ 
ployed upon common roads. Such addition to the extent of fertile territory 
in England, suddenly affected, would, in the first instance, lower the value 
of agricultural produce, and be injurious to the proprietors of the old por¬ 
tion of the territory, but no person would, therefore, contend that if we 
could enlarge the island of Great Britian by additional tracts of fertile land, 
the public interests would be injured by such enlargement: this would be 
monstrously absurd. It is not less absurd to object to the increase of food 
available for human beings, by substituting mechanical power for horses. 

In addition to the advantages you have already anticipated from the in¬ 
troduction of steam conveyance, would not the increased speed and cheap¬ 
ness of intercourse occasion vast public benefits in which agricultural capi¬ 
talists and laborers must greatly partake? Certainly. 

As it is impossible to conceive that steam should be generally substituted 
for horses, and be confined only to the conveyance of travellers, and, as it 
would necessarily be employed as vans and coaches are at present, for the 
speedy conveyance of light goods as well as travellers, (by the hypothesis 
steam carriages being cheaper than horse draft, or it would not be used,) 
would not such cheapening of the conveyance of such goods have a consid¬ 
erable effect upon the demand for them, and thereby for labor and food? On 
the principles that have been already stated with respect to agriculture, the 
cost of bringing all things to market is comprised of the cost of production 
and the cost of carriage. Reducing the cost of carriage is precisely the 
same thing in its effects as reducing the immediate cost of production, con¬ 
sequently the conveyance of light goods by steam power must cheapen all 
such goods to the consumers. This will necessarily enable them to con¬ 
sume a greater quantity of such goods, and the consumption of the greater 
quantity will enlarge the demand for labor, call a larger manufacturing popu¬ 
lation into existence, and thereby re-act on agriculture by increasing the de¬ 
mand for food. This cheaper mode of internal carriage will not only lower 
the price of light and refined manufactures to the home consumer, but will 
lower their price also to the foreign consumer. This will increase the advanta¬ 
ges which weat present possess in the foreign market, and tend to increase our 
foreign commerce. So that here again there will be an increased demand 
for manufactures and fora manufacturing population, and here again will be 
another beneficial re-action upon the soil. So that the more we contemplate 
the various effects produced upon the industry of the country by a cheaper 
mode of conveyance, the more we must be convinced that wealth and 
population will be increased, and that agriculture, instead of being injured, 
must necessarily partake in the increased prosperity of the country. In ad¬ 
dition to what I have already stated, the saving of expense and of time in ' 
conveying passengers and goods, and the rapidity of communication, will pro¬ 
duce effects, the amount of which it would be almost impossible to calculate. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


133 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX A. 

Answers to queries submitted by the committee to Mr. John Macneill. 

Query 1 . What is the greatest weight, in proportion to its own weight, 
which any locomotive steam engine has been found capable of drawing upon 
a railroad, and at what velocity? 

In the first edition of Mr. Nicholas Wood’s Treatise on Railroads, pub¬ 
lished in 1825, he states that a locomotive engine, weighing 6£ tons, and 
containing one ton of water, equal to lh tons, dragged twelve loaded car¬ 
riages, each weighing 9,408lbs., up a plane ascending 134 inches in 1,164 
feet, and also the conveying carriage, weighing I 3 tons, the wheels not 
slipping, the rails dry. 

He also gives the following experiments made on the Killingworth rail¬ 
road: The length of plane was 2,260 yards, with an ascent in one direction 
of 6 feet 5 inches, not uniform, varying from a dead level, or slightly un¬ 
dulating, to an ascent in one place of 1 in 330. Edge rail, 2| inches broad 
on the surface; carriages all the same construction, weighing 81£cwt. each, 
wheels 34 inches diameter, axles 2f inches diameter. 

Experiment 29. 

Wheels, three feet; nine carriages, weighing 731£cwt., were drawn up 
the plane fourteen times in 317 minutes, and fourteen times down the plane 
in 258 minutes; distance traversed, 36 miles in 9 hours 35 minutes; coals 
consumed, 2,534 lbs.; water, 890 gallons. 

Experiment 30. 

Wheels, four feet; nine carriages, weighing 73H cwt., were drawn up 
the same plane nineteen times in 302 minutes, and nineteen times down the 
plane in 265 minutes; distance traversed, 48.8 miles in 9 hours 27 minutes: 
coals consumed, 2,534lbs.; water, 854 gallons. 

* Experiment 31. 

Wheels, four feet; twelve carriages, weighing 975 cwt., were drawn up 
the plane nine times in 155 minutes, and nine times down in 133 minutes. 
Distance traversed, 23 miles in 4 hours 48 minutes; coala consumed, 1,546 
lbs.; water, 452 gallons. 

Experiment 32.— [With a different locomotive engine.) 

Wheels, three feet; nine carriages, weighing 73Hcwt., were drawn up 
the same plane ten miles in 212 minutes, and ten times down in 180 minutes. 
Distance, 26 miles; time, 6 hours 32 minutes; coals consumed, 1,487 lbs.; 
water, 490 gallons. 



134 


£ Doc. No. 101. 3 

Experiment 33. 

Wheels, four feet; twelve carriages, weighing 975 cwt., were drawn up 
the plane five times in 45 minutes 48 seconds, and five times down, in 40 
minutes 26 seconds. Distance each journey, 2,002 yards. Total, 11.375 
miles; distance passed over in the above time 1,663 yards each journey, or 
9.45 miles; time, 1 hour 26 minutes 14.seconds; coals consumed, 587 lbs.; 
water, 200 gallons. 

In this experiment, the engine was allowed to traverse a given space, to 
put the train of carriages into their proper velocity before the time was 
noted; the time was then marked until the velocity was again checked at 
the farther end of the stage. This will explain the difference between the 
two distances stated in the experiment: the one was the whole distance, 
from the commencement to the end of the stage; the other was that part of 
the stage which the engine passed over when the regular velocity was ac¬ 
quired, and before it was again diminished at the end of the st&ge, to stop 
the train; the time given, was that which transpired while the engine was 
passing over that space, while the velocity was uniform, and may therefore 
be taken as a measure of speed. 

At page 281, Mr. Wood states: Upon a railroad near Newcastle, a loco¬ 
motive engine, in fifty-four weeks, conveyed 53,823 carriages of coals, each 
weighing 9,438 lbs., 2,541 yards, and returned with the same number of 
empty carriages, each weighing 3,472 lbs. This was in fifty-four successive 
weeks; and, in that time, exclusive of Sundays, the engine, from want of 
goods to convey, was at least twenty days off work; so that in 304 days, 
the performance was 446,815 to»3 conveyed one mile; or 1,470 tons one 
mile each day, on a stage only 2,541 yards. The engine had three feet 
wheels, which were calculated for a rate of about 4 h miles per hour. 

Mr. Rastrick, in his report to the directors of the Liverpool and Man¬ 
chester railway, dated January, 1829, gives the following table of the ab¬ 
solute quantity of work done by five different locomotive engines, when 
reduced all to the same standard of five, eight, and ten miles per hour. The 
carriages proportioned to the weight of goods, in the same ratio as they were 
proposed for the Liverpool and Manchester railway, and also of the work 
that the ten-horse engine, proposed by him and Mr. Walker, would be ca¬ 
pable of doing: 


IN SUMMER 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


135 


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TABLE—Continued. 


136 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 























































137 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The engines started for the premium of £500, on the Liverpool and Man¬ 
chester railway, in October, 1829, were the Rocket, Novelty, and Sans 
Pareil. 


The Rocket weighed 

tender, with water and coke 
two carriages, loaded 


Sans Pareil —weight of engine 
tender, with water and fuel 
three carriages 


Novelty —weight of engine with ) 
water in the boiler 3 
tank, water and fuel - 
two carriages, 


4 

5 

- 

- 

3 

4 

- 

2 

9 

10 

3 

26 

17 

- 

- 

- 

4 

15 

2 


3 

6 

3 


10 

19 

3 


19 

2 

- 


3 

1 



— 

16 

_ 

14 

6 

17 

- 

- 

10 

14 

- 

14. 


, miles, in 2h. 6m. 9s.; 
- - J equal to 14^ per hour. 


-"| --Full speed, 10$ miles 
- I in 50m. 49s. equal to 
}>12.A. per hour; back, 

J 12 miles in 40m. 27s.; 
equal to 15 T 5 ff per hour. 


- - Total time,22m. 57s.; 
and distance run, 4$ 
miles. 


N. B.—The railway was level, and about two miles in length, where the 
experiments were made. 


Query 2. What may be considered as the greatest performance of loco¬ 
motive carriages previous to the Manchester and Liverpool railway being 
opened? 

Mr. Wood, in 1825, states, that the performance of the best locomotive 
engine was equal to 40 tons, conveyed at the rate of six miles an hour; and 
four years after, (in 1829,) Messrs. Rastrick and Walker have stated that 
48$ tons, conveyed five miles an hour, or 19$ tons conveyed ten miles an 
hour, was the greatest performance the directors of the Liverpool railway 
could expect from them. 

I have seen some statements of experiments in which the effective work 
was greater than the above; but I am inclined to think they could not be so 
well depended on as those of Messrs. Wood, Rastrick, and Walker. 

Query 3. What has been the greatest performance of any engine since 
that period? 

On the 23d of February, 1831, Mr. Robert Stephenson stated to the So¬ 
ciety of Civil Engineers* that the Northumbrian locomotive engine, weighing 
6 tons 3 cwt., drew 50 tons up the inclined plane at Rainhill, at the average 
rate of 7$ miles per hour: pressure of steam was 50 lbs. on the square inch. 
The inclination of the ground at Rainhill is 1 in 96. 

On the 1st of March, 1831, Mr. Locke stated that “the Samson” drew 
a gross weight of 151 tons, in 30 wagons, (the nett weight being 107 tons,) 
the whole distance from Liverpool to Manchester, in 2 hours 34 minutes, 
including 13 minutes of stoppages. The diameter of the wheels was 4 feet 
6 inches. 


18 













13S 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

On the 19th of April, 1831, Mr. Locke stated, that “the Samson” drew 
up the inclined plane at Rainhill, about 44i tons, gross, of goods and wagons, 
at the rate of about eight miles an hour. 

Weight of the engine was 8§ tons; weight of tender, (which was full of 
water,) 4 tons; making the total weight of goods, wagons, engine, and ten¬ 
der, 57 tons; and, calculating the speed of the engine eight miles per hour, 
she was exerting a force equal to 39 horse power. 

He also stated that a new engine, “the Jupiter ,” had just been started. 
From the 4th of March to 6th of April, she drew 226 wagons (only ten of 
which were empty,) and 847 coaches, a total distance of 3,426 miles. In 
one fortnight She made fifty journies, equal to 1,500 miles. 

Diameter of cylinder, 11 inches; length of stroke, 16 inches; diameter 
of the wheels, 5 feet. Value of such an engine, £ 700. 


APPENDIX B. 


Proposed scale for turnpike tolls on steam carriages. 


Every carriage propelled by steam, or other elementary power, carrying 
only fuel and engineers, and having the tires of the wheels less than 
two inches and a half, and, 

But if the carriage 
draws or propels 
another, 

Cwt. 
Weighing 5 

Cwt. 

and not exc’ding 10 

a toll as 

One horse not drawing 

then as 

One horse 

10 

20 


Two 


drawing 

Two 

20 

30 

. 

Three 

- 

Three 

30 

40 

- 

Four 

- 

Four 

40 

50 

- 

Five 

- 

Fite 

50 

60 

* 

Six 

* 

Six 


Above this weight an arbitrary toll, preventing its exceeding it on narrow 
wheels. 

If the tires of the wheels exceed three inches, the tolls should be about 
one quarter less; and the weight, without injury, may extend to three tons 
and a half. If the tires of the wheels are six inches wide, the tolls should 
be about a third less, and the weight allowed to extend as far as four or five 
tons. 
















[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


139 


APPENDIX C. 


RETURN of all turnpike road bills which passed the House of Com¬ 
mons in session 1830-31, wherein any toll has been imposed on 
carriages propelled by steam , or other mechanical contrivance , distin¬ 
guishing the amount of toll charged per horse on stage carriages, 
vans , wagons , and cars , and the charge on steam carriages. 


Stage coaches, 
&c. per horse. 


Wagons, vans, 
&c. according 
to the breadth 
of the wheels 
per horse. 


Propelled by machinery. 


Carriages with two Carriages 
wheels. with four 

wheels. 


Bedfont road 


6d. 


Highgate and Whet¬ 
stone road 

Norwich and Yarmouth 
road 

Walsall roads 
Stretford road 


6d. 


6d. 

4$d. 

6d. 


Tunbridge Wells, and 
5 Maresfield road 


Birmingham & Broms- 
grove road 


4d. 


4$d. 


4d. 5d. 6d. 


6d. per wheel for all 
carriages. 


4d. 5d. 6d. 


Is. 6d. 


2 s. 6d. 


4d. 6d. 

4£d. 6d. 8d. 

6d. 7£d. 9d. 


2d. 3d. 4£d. 


2$d. 3d. 4£d. 


2b. for all carriages. 
2s.6d. for all carriages. 
The same toll as if 
drawn by 4 horses. 
(Is. per ton weight for 
( all carriages. 

( For locomotive en¬ 
gines drawing car- 
- riages, 2s.; for steam 
carriages for passen¬ 
gers, &c., Is. 6d. 


Perry Bar and Hands- 
worth road 

Enfield Chase road - 
Lemsford Mill road - 


Linlithgowshire roads 


4$d. 

4d. 

7£d. 

C For 1 horse, 
J Is. 6d.; two 
j horses, 2s.; 3 
C or 4 ditto, 4s. 


4$d. 6d. 8d. 

3d. 4£d. 6d. 

6d. 

For 1 horse, 6d. 

2 do. lOd. 

3 do. 3s. 

4 do. 4s. 

5 do. 6s. 

6 do. 8s. 


2s. 6d. for all carriages. 
Is. for all carriages. 

Is. 6d. 


One penny per cwt. 
for all carriages. 


2s. 6d. 


Coventry, and Over 
Whiteacre road 
Watling Street road - 
Pinwall Lane road 
Worthing and Little- ) 
hampton road ) 

Leeds and Birstal road 

Haslemere road 
Macclesfield & Neth- ) 
er Tabley road $ 

Glamorganshire roads 
Cleeve and Evesham 
road 

Pucklechurch roads - 
Leicester and Welford 
road 

Lampeter roads 

Llandovery and Llan- > 
gadock road J 


3d. 

2d. 3d. 

4d. 

4£d. 

4d. 5d. 

6d. 

4*d. 

4d. 5d. 

6d. 

6d. 

4d. 5d. 

6d. 

Sd. 

6d. 7$d. 

9d. 

4$d. 

4£d. 


6d. 

6d. 8d. 

6d. 

6d. 


9d. 

9d. 


6d. 

6d. 7id. 

9d. 

4*d. 

3d. 3$d. 

4d. 

6d. 

4jd. 5£d. 

6d. 

6d. 

4£d. 5£d. 

6d. 


2s. 6d. for all carriages. 
2s. 6d. for all carriages. 
2s. 6d. for all carriages. 
Is. per wheel for all 
carriages. 

2s. per wheel for all 
carriages. 

Is. 

9d. per wheel for all 
carriages. 

Is. 6d. 

Is. 6d. 

Is. per cwt 

Is. for all carriages. 
The same toll as if 
drawn by 4 horses. 
The same toll as if 
drawn by 4 horses. 


2s, 

3s. 

3s. 




















140 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 


APPENDIX C—Continued. 


Bathgate roads 

Titchfield & Cosham 
road 

Cheadle roads 
Bruton roads 
Coventry and Stony 
Stanton road 


Liverpool and Preston 
road 


Stage coaches, 
&c. per horse. 


Wagons, vans, 
&c. according 
to the breadth 
of the wheels 
per horse. 


Propelled by machinery. 


Carriages with two Carriages 
wheels with four 

wheels. 


Is. 3d. 


6d. 

6d. 

6d. 


( Fori horse,9d. 
J if more than 1, 
( 6d. per horse. 

3d. 3£d. 4£d. 

4d. 5d. 9d. 

4£d. 6d. 7£d. 9d. 


C 2s. 9d. for all car- 
< riages not exceeding 
( 25 cwt. 

( 2s. per wheel for all 
( carriages. 

5s. for all carriages. 
4s. for all carriages. 


3d. 


I 


6d. 


4d. 5d. 6d. 

If drawn by 4 
or 5 horses, Is., 
Is. 5d., 2s. 3d,. 
2s. 5d. If by 
2 or 3 horses, 
4d.,6d.,8d. 


2s.6d. for all carriages. 

' If not exceeding one 
ton, 6d. per wheel; 
< and 6d. per wheel 
for every further ton 
weight. 


APPENDIX D. 

RETURN of all private bills which have passed the House of Com¬ 
mons, wherein any toll has been imposed on carriages propelled by 
steam or other mechanical contrivance, distinguishing the amount 
of toll charged per horse on stage carriages , vans, wagons, and cars , 
and the charge on steam carriages. 


Kidwelly roads 

Lynn (east gate) road 
Lynn (southgate) road 
Handsworth road 

Aylsham road 
Cheltenham roads 
Liverpool and Prescot) 
road \ 

Abergavenny roads - 


Stage coaches, 
&c. per horse. 

Wagons, vans, 
&c. according 

Propelled by machinery. 


to the breadth 
of the wheels. 

Carriages with three, 
or a less number of 
wheels. 

Carriages 
with four 
or more 
wheels. 

6d. 

4d. 5d. 

6d. 

2s. for two-wheeled 
carriages - 

3s. 

4d. 

3d. 3^d. 

4£d. 

2s. 6d. for all carriages. 


4d. 

3d. 3£d. 

4^d. 

2s. 6d. for all carriages. 


6d. 

6d. 8d. 

9d. 

The same toll as if 
drawn by 4 horses. 


3d. 

2d. 


9d. 

Is. 6d. 

8d. 

- 

- 

3s. for all carriages. 


Is. 6d. and Is. 

6d. Sd. lOd. Is. 

(Is. 6d. for every horse- 
( power for all carriages. 


6d. 

8d. 9d. 

Is. 

The same toll as if 
drawn by four horses. 


























[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


141 


APPENDIX D—Continued. 


Drogheda roads 

St Alban’s road 
Sunderland roads 

Wisbech and Thorney 
road 

Frome roads 
Huddersfield & Wood- 
head road 

Wakefield and Auster- 
lands road 
Monmouth roads 
Wakefield Ings road - 


Stirlingshire roads 


Exeter roads - 


Teignmouth & Daw- 
lish road 


Darlington road 


Stage coaches, 
&c. per horse. 


6d. 

6d. 

4£d. 


6d. 

6d. 

6d. 

6d. 

8d. 

3d. 


Is. 3d. 


8d. 9d. 


If drawn by 2 
or 3 horses, 
8d.; if by 4 
or more hor¬ 
ses, 6d. 

If drawn by 2 
or 1 horse, 
10d.; if by 4 
horses, 8d. 
and if by 6 
horses, 6d. 
per horse. 


Wagons, vans, 
&c. according 
to the breadth 
of the wheels. 


2d. 4d. 6d. Is. 
3d. 4d. 9d. is. 


3d. 3£d. 4£d. 
6d. 7d. 8d. 

3d. 4d. 4|d. 

4d. 5d. 6d. 

5d. 6d. 7d. Is. 
Id. l£d. 2d. 

If not exceeding 
25 cwt, 9d.; if 
between 25 and 
30 cwt. Id. in 
addition, and 
so in propor¬ 
tion. 

If drawn by one 
horse only, 9d.; 
if by two or 
more horses, 
6d. per horse. 


9d. 


. 6d, 8d. lOd. 


Propelled by machinery. 


Carriages with three, 
or a less number of 
wheels. 


Carriages 
with four 
or more 
wheels. 


The same toll as if 
drawn by two horses. 
Is. 6d. 

6d. for every horse pow¬ 
er for all carriages. 

2s. 

2s. for all carriages. 

2s. 6d. for all carriages. 

2s. 6d. for all carriages. 
Is. 6d. 

6d. 

' 2s. 6d. for every car¬ 
riage not exceeding 
25 cwt.; if between 
25 and 30 cwt. Id. 
per cwt. in addition, 
and so in propor¬ 
tion. 

' If not exceeding one 
ton, 6d. per wheel; 
if more than one ton, 
6d. per wheel in ad¬ 
dition, and 6d. per 
wheel for every fur¬ 
ther ton weight. 

' If not exceeding one 
ton, 6d. per wheel; 
if more than one ton, 
6d. per wheel in ad¬ 
dition, and 6d. per 
wheel for every fur¬ 
ther ton weight. 


Is. 


2s. 6d. 


4s. 


2s. 


6d. 

Is. 


2 «. 


Private Bill Office, 

House of CommonSy August 22, 1831. 

EDW. JOHNSON. 
























142 


Doc. No. 101. 3 


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No B, The carriage and load drawn by the steam carriage, shall not exceed double the weight of the drawing carriage. 





































APPENDIX F. 

EXTRACTS from Seventh Report of the Holyhead Road Commissioners , showing the number of lbs . required to 
draw a wagon of the weight of 21 cwt. 8 lbs. at the rate of 2\ miles per hour. 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


143 


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144 


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145 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Extract from Mr. Telford’s Report on the state of the Holyhead and 
Liverpool Roads . 

Being authorized by the commissioners to have the machine'invented by 
my assistant, Mr. Macneill, (for measuring the force of traction, or the la¬ 
bor of horses in drawing carriages,) completed, and also to have the several 
districts of the Holyhead road in England tried by it, Mr. Macneill has 
done so, and prepared a statement showing the results of the trials between 
London and Shrewsbury, a distance of 153i miles. 

The general results of these experiments* on different sorts of roads, are 
as follows: 

1. On well made pavement, the draught is - 33 lbs. 

2. On a broken stone surface on old flint road - - - 65 

3. On a gravel road - 147 

4. On a broken stone road, upon a rough pavement foundation 46 

5. On a broken stone surface upon a bottoming of concrete, 

formed of Parker’s cement and gravel - - - 46 

The general results of experiments made with a stage coach,t on the same 
piece of road, on different inclinations, and at different rates of velocity, are 
given, from which the following statement has been calculated: 


Rate of inclination. 

Rates of travelling. 

Force required. 

1 

in 

20 

6 

miles per hour 

268 lbs. 

1 

in 

26 

6 

it 

- 

213 

1 

in 

30 

6 

tt 

- 

165 

1 

in 

40 

6 

tt 

- 

160 

1 

in 

600 

6 

tt 

- 

111 

1 

in 

20 

8 

tt 

_ 

296 

1 

in 

26 

8 

a 

- 

219 

1 

in 

30 

8 

a 

- 

196 

1 

in 

40 

8 

tt 

- 

166 

1 

in 

600 

8 

tt 

- 

120 

1 

in 

20 

10 

tt 

. 

318 

1 

in 

26 

10 

tt 

- 

225 

1 

in 

30 

10 

tt 

- 

200 

1 

in 

40 

10 

tt 

- 

172 

1 

in 

600 

10 

a 

* 

128 


Having the results of these accurate trials to refer to, leaves it no longer 
a matter of conjecture in what manner a road should be made to accomplish, 
most effectually, the main object, that is, diminishing, to the greatest possible 
degree, the labor of horses in draught. 

* In making these experiments, a wagon, weighing about 21 cwt. was used, 
f Weight of coach, exclusive of seven passengers, 18 cwt. 









146 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Although the observations of scientific persons have led to nearly similar 
conclusions, others have been in the habit of laying down rules for road¬ 
making at variance with all the established laws of motion; it is satisfactory 
to be able to produce a positive proof by actual experiment, of their opi¬ 
nions being wholly erroneous. 

In this view, I consider Mr. Macneill’s invention, for practical purposes 
on a large scale, one of the most valuable that has been lately given to the 
public. 



DOCUMENTS 

IH RELATION TO 

THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF CANALS AND RAILROADS, 

SUBMITTED BY 

MR. HOWARD, OF MARYLAND, 

AND APPENDED BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 

OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



































' : - . - 

















































































































[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


149 


DOCUMENTS 


RELATIVE TO 

The comparative merits of Canals and Railroads , submitted by Mr, 
Howard , of Maryland. 


Engineer’s Office, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 

Baltimore, March 5, 1832. 

To Philip E. Thomas, President, fyc. 

In accordance with thy request, I have read document No. 18, of the 
House of Representatives, 1st session 22d Congress, and now submit the 
following report and accompanying documents on the subject of the relative 
advantages of railroads and canals. 

It is regretted that more time could not be allowed for the compiling of 
statements and explanations with regard to the relative merits of canals and 
railways. As it is, what can now be presented will be very limited and 
brief, and much short of that which, it is conceived, the subject demands, 
and far less of that of which it admits. We shall begin with the following 
comparison of canals, railways, and turnpike roads, with regard to the effects 
of the moving power upon them. 

In document No IS, (before mentioned,) page 190, after quoting from 
N. Wood’s Treatise on Railroads, ed. 1825, and from Tredgold’s Treatise 
of the same date, is the following paragraph, to wit: 

“ It is proper to remark, that from Tredgold, as from other English trea¬ 
tises on railroads, passages may be extracted less favorable than the pre¬ 
ceding to the superiority of canals: but enough is here quoted to show the 
uncertainty which hung over the question—whether canals or railroads 
were to be preferred for the transportation of persons and property. No 
two authors, scarcely, will be found to concur, precisely, in opinion on the 
subject; nor the same author with himself.” 

In the first place, we may here remark, that the disagreement of authors 
With each other, or with themselves, cannot be received as good evidence 
against improvements either in mechanics or in modes of conveyance, any 
more than difference of opinion, opposition, or even apparent inconsistency, 
in the members of a legislative body, would be valid evidence against bills 
or amendments: for, otherwise, improvements in the one case, and amend¬ 
ments in the other, would be indefinitely postponed. The truth, however, 
is, that public opinion will always be founded upon the facts, as they shall 
be, from time to time, developed and shown to exist, with regard to all im¬ 
provements; and public opinion will seldom err. Turnpike roads, canals, 
the steam engine, and steamboats, have each, in turn, in spite of powerful 
opposition, received the sanction of public opinion. Railroads are now upon 
the stage, and are being subjected to the same, great and discriminating 
ordeal; and when we reflect upon the magnificent results which their suc¬ 
cess, eoupled with the application of steam, upon them, will produce, we 



150 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

can neither wonder that their, introduction should be opposed, nor doubt of 
their triumph. 

The author of the document, whose object would appear mainly to have 
been to determine Congress and the public in favor ol the canal, and against 
the railroad, here acknowledges that passages more favorable to the railroad 
system exist in the works of those authors. 

Now, what are the facts? The compiler of document No. 18 has quoted 
from English works seven years old. Seven years is a long period, when 
measured by the time elapsed since the application of railways to the pur¬ 
poses of general conveyance Within this period, very great improve¬ 
ments have been effected, not only in the formation of railways, but in the 
application to them of machinery, and motive power. 

These improvements have been such as to double or treble the useful 
effects, and even to quadruple the attainable velocity which had previously 
been had upon railways. The relative friction, or traction , upon level rail¬ 
ways, in the year 1825, was set down by Tredgold at the T ^ T th part of the 
weight moved, and his table V.,* copied on page 189, document No. IS, was 
calculated accordingly; whilst .Wood, in his treatise of the same date, (1825,) 
expressed his opinion, derived from experiments, to be, that the traction 
may be laken at the ^J 0 th. 

Since that time, however, the common railway car, in England, has un¬ 
dergone improvements, and the friction is stated, in the second edition of 
Nicholas Wood’s Treatise on Railroads, London, 1831, to be the^I 0 th of 
the weight. 'In this country, and on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, seve- 


* The following is the table, as given in Doc. 18. 

A TABLE showing the effects of a power or force of traction of one hundred pounds, at differ 
ent velocities, on Canals, Railroads, and Turnpike Roads. 


Y elocity of motion. 

Load moved by a power of 100 lbs. 

Miles per 

Feet per 

On a Canal. 

On a level Railway. 

On a level Turnpike 

hour. 

second. 





road. 



Total mass 

Useful 

7'fetal mass 

Useful 

Total mass 

Useful 



moved. 

effect. 

moved. 

effect. 

moved. 

effect. 



Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lds. 

2* 

3 66 

55,500 

39,400 

14 400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

3 

4 40 

38 542 

27,361 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

3* 

5.13 

28,816 

20,100 

14,400 

10 800 

1,800 

1,350 

4 

5.86 

21.680 

15,390 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

5 

7. 3o 

13,875 

9,850 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

6 

8.80 

9,635 

'6,840 

14,400 

10 800 

1,800 

1,35& 

7 

10.26 

7,080 

5,026 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

8 

11.73 

5,420 

3,848 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

9 

13.20 

4,282 

3,040 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

10 

14.66 

3,468 

2,462 

14,400 

10.800 

1,800 

1,358 

13.5 

19.9 

1,900 

1 350 

14.400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 


















151 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ral of the greatest recent improvements in railway cars have been made. 
These have resulted from the formation and bringing into practical use, on 
this road, two kinds of cars; one of which having friction wheels pendant 
upon the ends of the axles of the road wheels, the other a plain, simple, 
chilled box, with outside bearings and steel pointed journals; and from the 
use of the cone and cylinder wheel. And there is no doubt that the cars 
in use on this railroad are by far the best extant, in Europe or America. 

From a set of experiments made on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, 
the relative friction, or the force of traction on a level, will be, with a full 
load, when the chilled box car is used, the ^ ¥ th, and when the Winans* 
friction car is employed, the ^ 0 th of the weight of the car and its load. 
The experiments were made with two cars of each kind, and the results 
just given are the averages. To meet practical imperfections, some allow¬ 
ance must be made; but there is no doubt, that, in practice, these ratios will 
be the yi^th and the ¥ ^ ¥ th, at the least. The diameter of the wheel is 30 
inches, and that of the axle, where it is subject to friction, 2 inches. If 
the wheel should be enlarged to 36 inches, as will probably be the case, as 
is now preferred in England, then the relative friction will be reduced in 
the proportion of 36 ; 30, and the ratios for the two cars will be y-| ¥ th and 
^ ¥ o-th. Moreover, whilst it is believed that the diameter of the axle cannot 
be reduced in the Winans’ car, lest its attrition should prove injurious to 
the friction wheel, yet it is otherwise with the chilled box car, and the 
axle now employed for this car has a diameter of If inches. This, again, 
has the effect of reducing the effect of the friction in proportion as 2 : If. 
Hence, in the chilled box car, with 30 inch wheels, as now. used on the 
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the traction on a level is the y^ T th, and, with 
a 36 inch wheel, the T |yth. And these may be set down, in practice, at the 

an .^ 

The limits of practical perfection, then, of the two kinds of cars now/in 
use on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, when wheels three feet in diameter 
shall be employed, will be such, that, with the one, 1 lb. traction will draw 
300 lbs., and with the other 450 lbs. Whilst, at present, as they are now 
furnished on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, with 30 inch wheels, 1 lb. will 
draw 264 lbs. upon one car, and 400 lbs. upon the other. 

Through the perseverance of our ingenious countryman, Ross Winans, 
the inventor, and the patronage of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com¬ 
pany, the friction car has gradually assumed more fitting proportions and 
consistency of parts, until it has arrived at a practical state that will ensure 
its use upon railways. In all our comparisons, therefore, of great lines of 
railway and canal, we are fully authorized to assume the traction necessary 
with this car upon railways, when three feet, wheels shall be used; but, as 
hitherto, 2\ feet wheels have been running upon the Baltimore and Ohio 
railroad, and as it may be more satisfactory to some that the comparison, in 
relation to friction, should not, in behalf of the railway system, contain any¬ 
thing not experimentally tested, we shall, for the present occasion, employ 
the traction of the -^- ¥ th. 

With this measure, let us correct the Table V, page 189, of Doc. No. 18, 
which Tredgold, seven years ago, formed with a view to his then opinion oi 
a traction of the T i_th, and we shall then see in what relation the effects of 
a given power upon railways will stand, when compared with those upon 
canals and turnpike roads. 


152 


[ Uoc. No. 101. ] 


TABLE V—Corrected. 


A TABLE showing the effects of a power, or force of traction, of one 
hundred pounds, at different velocities, on Canals, Railroads, and 
Turnpike Roads. 


Velocity of motion. 


Load moved at a power of 100 lbs. 


Miles per 
hour. 

Feet per 
second. 

On a 

Canal. 

On a level Railway. 

On a level Turnpike 
road. 



Total mass 
moved 

Useful 

effect. 

Total mass 
moved. 

Useful 

effect. 

Total mass 
moved. 

Useful 

effect. 



Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

n 

3.66 

55,500 

39,400 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

3 

4.40 

38,542 

27,361 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

3$ 

5.13 

28,316 

20,100 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

4 

5.86 

21,680 

15,390 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

5 

7.33 

13,875 

9,850 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

6 

8.80 

9,635 

6,840 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

7 

10.26 

7,080 

5,026 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

8 

11.73 

5,420 

3,848 

40,000 

30,000 

1,800 

1,350 

9 

13.20 

4,282 

3,040 

40,000 

30,000 

1.800 

1,350 

1,350 

10 

14 66 

3,468 

2,462 

40.000 

30,000 

30,000 

1,800 

13.5 

19.90 

1,900 

1,350 

40,000 

1,800 

1,350 


From an inspection of the corrected table, it will appear, that, when the 
velocity is 3 miles per hour, (instead of 5 miles, as indicated in the former 
table,) it requires less power on the railway than on the canal, to produce 
an equal effect. From a strict calculation, it will be found that the power 
required will be equal when the velocity is 2 ** Q miles per hour, or 4.2 feet 
per second. 

According to Tredgold, the maximum of useful effect of the labor of a 
horse will be obtained from a duration of 6 hours of labor per day, at a ve¬ 
locity of 3 miles per hour, and the mean power of traction will be 125 lbs. 
The railway will, therefore, have the advantage of the canal, at a rate of 
speed best suited to the action of the horse. And it will also appear that 
the effect on the railway is to that on the turnpike road as 22 to 1. 

We see, therefore, that the comparison between canals and railroads is 
vastly more favorable to the latter, than when Tredgold, in his treatise on 
railroads, remarked, that, “ recollecting that railroads are yet in an imper¬ 
fect state, while the united talents of our civil engineers have been chiefly 
devoted to canals for about a century, we may confidently hope that there 
is yet scope for improvement; and we may fairly infer, that, for new works, 
railroads will, in nine cases out of ten, be better adapted for the public be¬ 
nefit than canals.” 

Seeing, therefore, that the improvements in railways and cars have been 
such, that, with a velocity of 3 miles per hour, the effect is greater than on 
a canal, and that, at higher velocities, the effect will be vastly more decided 
in favor ot the railway, in consequence of the resistance in the canal increas¬ 
ing^ a duplicate rati© of the velocities; and when we also reflect upon the. 




















153 


< [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

very great improvements which have, in the last two or three years, been 
made in the locomotive steam engine, and consider the paramount impor¬ 
tance of speed and certainty to a travelling and commercial people, more 
especially in a country of such extended surface as the United States, and 
that this avenue of communication will be open throughout the year , in 
winter as well as in summer, shall we hesitate to say, what the author just 
quoted would, under the same circumstances, undoubtedly say, that the rail¬ 
way should be preferred in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred? 

As the late edition of Wood’s Treatise on Railroads has not been men¬ 
tioned in Doc. No. 18, it is probable the compiler of that document had not 
seen it. And, inasmuch, as the chapter which treats of the comparative 
merits of canals and railways has been improved in this edition, and like¬ 
wise contains a commentary upon experiments said to have been made in 
Scotland, tending to show the practicability of high velocities upon canals, 
(See Doc. No. 18, page 31 to 34;) it is thought proper to give that short chap¬ 
ter at length; it is accordingly appended hereto, and marked No. 1. 

In estimating this chapter, however, a similar correction, though not to 
the same amount, must be made, as has been applied to Tredgold’s table V. 
Owing to the improvements already mentioned, the canal although with 
horses at a speed of two miles per hour, it is superior to the railroad so far 
as regards the effective power of traction, yet, it is not so, in as great a pro¬ 
portion as 3 : l, and instead of an equality of effect taking place at 3$ miles 
per hour, as Wood has it, we have shown that the effect of the power of trac¬ 
tion with Winans’ cars on a level railway, will be equal to that on a canal, 
when the velocity upon each is very little more than 2| miles per hour; whilst, 
at 3 miles per hour, the performance on the railway will evidently prepon¬ 
derate. ' 

To show the performances of locomotive engines according to the state 
of improvement which existed in the year 1830, and their comparison with 
respect to the power of horses upon railroads, certain copies of tables, and 
extracts from the same work, are also annexed, marked No. 2. 

In the year 1828, the power of the locomotive engine was no more than 
sufficient to propelitself up an ascentof 1 in96, at therateof 10 miles perhour, 
without dragging any load after it. In the course of two years after, how¬ 
ever, such were the improvements made in this engine', that it could draw 
up that ascent, a train of cars, weighing, with their freight, 17 tons, at ten 
miles per hour; at the same time, it could draw, on a level, at the same speed, 
53 tons; at 15 miles per hour, 30 tons; and at 20 miles per hour, 15 tons. 

Of the cost of motive power. 

According to Tredgold, the power of traction of an average horse, is 
125 lb.; and his useful effect is a maximum, with a velocity of 3 miles per 
hour, continued six hours in the day. The resistance with the Winans’car, 
is 4 the ^1^, and the gross load for one horse will be 125 x 400=50,000 lb. = 
22 1 3 0 2 0 tons, drawn 18 miles in a day. Deducting one-fourth part for the 
weight of the cars, the freight will be 16* J 0 tons drawn 18 miles per day. 
But, as the most economical ratio of weight between that of a car and its load 
is 1 : 3, and as the weight of a car to carry 3 tons, is 1 ton; we shall therefore, 
on the present occasion, assume the proper weight of each car to be one lon 3 
and its freight 3 tons, as a general rule upon great lines of railway. The 
horse will not draw six of such cars when fully laden: his load must, there- 
20 


154 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


fore, be five cars, containing 15 tons of freight drawn 20 miles (and not 18 
miles) in a day, equal to 300 tons drawn one mile in a day. 

One man may drive two horses, but we shall, at present, allow a man to 
a horse, and 5 cars. The average daily wages of a man wilfbe about 80 
cents, including board, and the average cost of a horse, including harness 
and every other expense, about 40 cents; of both together 120 cts.=I|2 = $ 
of a cent per ton per mile. 

The five Winans’ cars will oost, in their construction, $150, and they will 
probably have to be renewed after five years’ use; at the end of which time 
the materials will be worth $250; loss $500. The annual incidental repairs, 
for five years, may be set down at $S0; and, supposing one third part of the 
entire number of cars to be inactive at depots, sidings, and shops, then the 
calculation of the expense attendant on these cars will be as follows: 

1. Annuity to produce $500 in 5 years; interest a 5 per cent. 

per annum, ------ $90 51 

2. Interest on $750 at 6 per cent. - - - - 45 00 

3. Annual incidental repairs, - * - 80 00 

4. Interest on spare cars, one-th'trd, - - - 15 00 


Amounting to - - - - - $250 51 

800 tons conveyed 1 mile in a day, for the year of 312 days, make 
93,600 tons conveyed 1 mile, at an expense, for cars, equal to $230 51. 
The expense per ton per mile will, therefore, be = a little less than 

one-fourth of a cent, or, more exactly, .2461 of a cent. 

The consumption of oil with the Winans* car is exceedingly small, per¬ 
haps not so much as the one-twentieth of a cent per ton per mile, and the 
summary will be as follows: 

Cost of drivers and horses per ton per mile, - - = .4 cts. 

Do of cars, ------ =.2461 

Do of oil, - - - - - - =.05 


Amounting to ----- =.6961 

or a little less than 7 mills per ton per mile, when one man drives one 
horse. 

It is, however, considered practicable for each man to conduct two 
horses, in which case half the wages of a man, or 40 cents per day, would be 
deducted in the foregoing calculation, and the expense of transportation, in¬ 
cluding cars and oil, would then be 5| mills per ton per mile. 

If to these amounts we add 10 per cent, to cover the pay of agents em¬ 
ployed to regulate the transportation and contingencies, which is conceived 
to be ample on a line where much business is correctly carried on, there 
will result 761-100 of a cent per ton per mile for the cost of transportation, 
when each man drives one horse, and of a cent per ton per mile, when 
one man drives two horses; and the gain in the latter case will be 19 per 
cent. 

It must be borne in mind that the foregoing estimates are predicated on the 
assumption that common, or medium horses only, so far as regards their 
power of traction, are to be employed, whilst the cost is enough to com¬ 
mand horses of a heavier draught, and yet sufficiently active for the pur¬ 
pose required. 

Upon the Cumberland road, and, indeed, throughout from Baltimore to 
Wheeling, the turnpike road is very hilly. The maximum grade employed 




1 55 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

an the location and construction of the road, was 5 degrees, equal to about 
1 in 11£, and there frequently occur stretches of road for miles together, as¬ 
cending mountains at an ascent of 1 in 12. Let us see what is here the ac¬ 
tual draught of a horse. The common load for a team of five horses is 

4.500 pounds of freight,' plus 3,000 pounds for weight of wagon, equal to 

7.500 pounds, or 150 pounds per horse. The resistance on a level is the 
-yVth of this, equal to 83 lbs., whilst the gravity on the ascent is the - f 1 ^, or 
125 lbs. But the resistance in passing up the ascent is the sum of these, that is, 
208 lbs. Moreover, the horse has, in addition to this, to overcome the 
gravity of his own body, which, if he shall weigh 750 lbs. is J 5 J = 62 lb. This 
added, shows the force of traction to be really 270 lbs. when all the five 
horses draw simultaneously, and equally, and the road is good. These con¬ 
ditions, however, are frequently not verified, and there is doubtless a ne¬ 
cessity in this service to employ horses that shall be capable of exerting a 
muscular energy of 300 lbs at the least. Now, the proper constant working 
energy of a horse, (and it is the same with mechanical agents, of all kinds, 
including the steam engine) is the one half of his capable energy. See note, 
p. 68, also p. 84, Tredgold’s Treatise on Railroads, N. Y. ed. 1825. Con¬ 
sequently, the horses employed upon the Cumberland road, are capable of a 
constant draught, during 8 hours each day, of 150 lbs. And this happens 
to be the same as the horse power established by engineers as the unit of 
measure in reckoning the power of the steam engine. 

The time these horses employ in performing the trip from Baltimore to 
Wheeling, 266 miles, over this hilly road, is usually 15 days, averaging 18 
miles per day; and they could, with equal, if not greater ease, travel 20 
miles per day, on a railroad, with the same draught. Upon the level parts 
of the railway, the horse could occasionally take advantage of the momen¬ 
tum of the load, and relax his traces, whilst, upon the descending parts, his 
load would at all times be less than ordinary, and where the descent was 15 
to 20 feet per mile, he would be entirely free from draught, inasmuch 
as the gravity would equal, and perhaps exceed the friction of the cars. 
Moreover, upon the railway, he would be entirely relieved from holding 
hack , for, in case the gravity upon a descending part of the way should ex¬ 
ceed the friction, the conductor of the train would apply the brake, and ef¬ 
fectually regulate the motion of the cars; and, we may remark, by the way, 
that, upon a canal, the draught is necessarily almost a contant tug, and does 
not admit of relaxation without coming to a pause, when there is a loss of 
time; added to this, the animal has to draw at the end of a long elastic rope 
not parallel to the direction of motion, thereby suffering a partial distress, 
together with a loss of effective power in the ratio of the co-sine to the sine 
of the deviating angle. 

We see reasons, therefore, for the conclusion that, in general, the horse 
will work and thrive better in operating upon a railway than in tugging upon 
the tow-path of a canal. 

Having shown that the horses employed upon the Cumberland turnpike 
road are competent to a traction of 150 lbs. each, and that they could exert 
this force for 20 miles a day on a railroad, we will next compare their power 
with that counted upon in the preceding estimates in relation to horsepower 
upon the railway. We there assumed the working power to be 125 lbs.; 
hence, the double of this, or 250 lbs. will be the muscular energy of this 
horse. He would, therefore, not be so powerful by 20 per cent, as one of 


156 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

those which have to work upon our turnpike roads, and he would be entirely 
inadequate to the work that has there to be performed. 

Unless the railway, therefore, is exactly level, there will be a decided 
advantage in using the more powerful horse, since he will be able, with the 
same train, to surmount ascents that, with the weaker horse, would be im¬ 
practicable. At the same time, it is not recommended that the stronger 
horse, though able to draw shears, should be made to draw a train of more 
than five, on a level, inasmuch as he would be able, with this load, to tra¬ 
verse occasional ascents of from 15 to 20 feet per mile, whilst his speed 
would be somewhat augmented on the level parts, in order to compensate 
there for his want of a full load. It is proper to state, however, that the 
load of this description of horse being precisely the load of the other aug¬ 
mented by one-fifth of it, that is, six laden cars, the useful effect, when mea¬ 
sured as it should be by the relative cost of transportation, will exhibit a gain 
of ten per cent, since, in pursuing the calculation, the cost in the case where 
one man attends one horse is found to be the ~- 5 9 ^ of a cent per ton per mile, 
inclusive of agencies and contingencies. There cannot be a doubt, there¬ 
fore, that upon a railway that shall undulate in its grade within the limits 
of 20 or even 30 feet per mile, the transit will be effected with horses at a 
cost varying very little, if any, from three-fourths of a cent per ton per mile; 
and, in all cases where the descent of the line shall be in the direction of the 
movement of the greater tonnage, as will often be the case, the cost may be 
reduced even to h a cent. This is the result when each man drives but one 
horse, but if one driver shall conduct two horses, the three-fourths will be 
reduced to three-fifths of a cent per ton a mile. 

Upon the whole, therefore, and considering that the cost of subsistence 
and labor will continue to be cheaper in the interior of the country than is 
here calculated upon, there does not appear any valid reason to estimate the 
cost of transportation of commodities by means of horse power, at a rate per 
ton per mile greater than three-fourths of a cent. 

It is true, that to effect this result, the railway, the machinery, and the 
management must be good. But what object is there, to which the atten¬ 
tion of man is properly and lawfully directed, that does not merit, if it does 
not absolutely require industry and systematic attention? In Doc. No. 18, 
herein before referred to, in the letter from Benjamin Wright, civil engi¬ 
neer, is this sentence, p. 174, to wit: “But the great advantage a canal 
will always hare over a railroad, consists in the little mind or thought that 
is required to use it:” an objection, which, no doubt, canals themselves 
had once to encounter, and which would be equally valid against the steam 
engine, steamboats, and a host of other splendid inventions and improve¬ 
ments; if, indeed, it does not (though certainly unintentionally) strike at the 
root of all advancement in the application of science and the arts to the im¬ 
provement of our physical and mental condition. Are our countrymen pre¬ 
pared for this objection? Shall a people who have assumed the responsi¬ 
bility of self-government, and, in consequence, have become a great nation, 
refuse to applaud the genius of their Fulton, and demur at the further ad¬ 
vancement of their country in the mighty march of improvement, in order 
to repose ingloriously in littleness of thought and inactivity of mind? Cer¬ 
tainly not. The genius of the people forbids it, and the age forbids it 
Judge Wright thinks he is probably in the minority in the United States 
on the question between railroads and canals, and that the public mind doe- 
not take all circumstances and bearings into consideration when they under* 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 157 

take to give opinions. He says, also, (p. 174) in the case of the Baltimore 
and Ohio railroad “ we are kept in the dark about wear and tear.” 

The expression “ kept in the dark,” seems to imply a belief in the mind 
of the respectable writer, that all was not as it should be; that something 
was kept hidden that ought to be divulged or communicated to the public. 
Now, the fact is, the company have never yet been prepared, nor have their 
works been so advanced or matured, as to enable them to make definite and 
official statements of wear and tear to the public in their annual reports, 
that could be relied upon in determining important principles, much less of 
exhibiting practical results that should fix the precise amount or relative 
degree of wear and tear. And, until they can make statements which are 
not calculated to mislead, and which shall be freed from the contingencies 
incident to a new work of a comparatively new description, and from the 
expenses incident to the bringing to practical perfection of two new kinds 
of cars that it is believed will be found superior to all others hitherto em¬ 
ployed upon railways, they will no doubt be excused. It is conceived that 
the public will be much less interested in knowing the amount expended in 
the inventing and perfecting of a-machine, than in its powers and the ex¬ 
penses attendant upon its employ when brought into practical use. Never¬ 
theless, I have, on the present occasion, given an approximate estimate, ac¬ 
cording to the best of my judgment, of the probable practical cost of the 
Winans’ car, and its wear and tear, and this will be the most expensive of the 
two kinds, not only in the construction, but in the wear and tear. 

With regard to the criticism preferred in pages 19S, 199, of Doc. 18, in 
relation to the expenses of transportation on the first 13 miles of the Balti¬ 
more and Ohio railroad, as stated in the 5th annual report of the company, 
in which the passengers are rated at 12 to the ton, and, after adding the ton¬ 
nage thus made out, to that of the commodities calculated from the actual 
expenses incurred, the author infers that the cost of moving power is more 
than Ah cents per ton a mile. It may be remarked, that the expenses in the 
incipient stages of all new works, will range far above the average of what 
they will be when every thing comes to be regular and systematic. But, 
in this instance, the result is as unfavorable as can well be conceived, inasmuch 
as, coupled with the disadvantages already alluded to, a much greater number 
of men and horses had to be kept in pay and on hand than were sufficient 
to afford the effective power exerted in the nine months. As the weather 
was fine or otherwise, the passengers of pleasure were numerous or none at 
all; yet, still, establishments had to be every day maintained to the extent 
adequate to the demand of any day. But, further, in consequence of pas¬ 
sengers not being paid for by the ton, it does not appear fair to bring this item 
to the standard of so much per ton per mile; and, what is of so much conse¬ 
quence with regard to this deduction, is, that it should be recollected that 
much the greater part of the gross tonnage was conveyed by horses at the speed 
of ten miles per hour. Now, the effect of a high velocity with a horse in 
lessening his useful effect is very great. In table VI. p. 169, Tredgold’s 
treatise, already referred to, it is shown that the useful effect of a horse, 
when working on canals, at ten miles per hour, is only the ^ of that which 
it would be with a velocity of 2 \ miles per hour, whilst, on railways and 
turnpike roads, it would be the one-fourth part. We see, therefore, that 
although the action of the horse has such a decided advantage upon the rail¬ 
way over that upon the canal when the velocities are considerable; yet, 
even upon the railway, his useful effect, when he is put at a speed of ten 


158 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

miles per hour, is diminished three-fourths; and, consequently, the expenses 
of transit would become increased in the proportion as 4 :1, beyond what 
they would be with a velocity of two and a half miles per hour. 

When these things shall be taken into the account, as it is not doubted 
they will be by the public, it will be conceded that the results afford no just 
ground for the disparagement of the railroad system. 

It may likewise be stated, that, although the passengers were almost alto¬ 
gether conveyed in carriages made upon the Winans’ friction wheel princi¬ 
ple, it was otherwise with the freight; much the greater portion of which 
was conveyed in the chilled-box car. Now it has been shown, that the 
friction of the first car is to that of the last as 4 J 0 : We have also 

shown, that, with the Winans’ car, a horse will draw 300 tons, one mile in 
a day. Consequently, by proportion, as 400 : 264 :: 300 tons: 198—the 
effective daily work of a horse with chilled box cars, so far as depends upon 
the friction. But, upon making a strict estimate, proportioning the num¬ 
ber of cars in the train, and making allowance for the lesser weight of this 
car in proportion to its strength, we find the effective power of a horse to be 
220 tons drawn one mile in a day; and it will be recollected that the report 
of W. Woodville, the superintendent of transportation, gives 227£ tons. 
Although the whole annual charge attendant upon these cars, embracing 
repairs, renewals of interest on capital, will not be far from $30 for the 
chilled box car, to $45 for that having friction wheels, supposing two-thirds 
of their number to traverse 20 miles in a day for 312 days, or 6,240 miles 
in the year, whilst the residue of the cars shall be stationary for the pur¬ 
pose of repairing, or for other cause; nevertheless, it is conceived that the 
cost of transportation has been enhanced to an amount beyond what it would 
have been with the exclusive use of the friction car in the state of compara¬ 
tive durability to which it has recently been brought. 

The railway owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, at Mauch 
Chunk, in Pennsylvania, (see Doc. No 18, pages S, 163 to 173, 178, 199, 
201, 211, and 216,) has been, it would seem, much relied upon, not only 
by the ingenious and respectable superintendent himself, but likewise by the 
author of the document just recited, as a standard whereby to test the com¬ 
parative merits of railways and canals. In proof of this, we cannot have bet¬ 
ter evidence in the one case than the fact that, instead ot continuing the rail¬ 
way down the side of the river Lehigh, from Mauch Chunk to the Dela¬ 
ware, at Easton, a distance of 46! miles, upon a descent,-in favor of the 
trade, of about 8 feet per mile, a canal and river navigation has been formed, 
at an expense of $1,55S,000, or 833,326 per mile; or, in the other case, 
than the prominent array of pages in which this railway finds notice in the 
document. 

We shall endeavor to show that the Mauch Chunk railway is not only a 
peculiar one, but that the results upon it should, in no wise, be held up as a 
precedent, or as a test of the railway system, much less as an argument in 
the comparison of that system with canals, unless, indeed, due allowance is 
made for all the conditions which are peculiar to it, or to those similarly 
circumstanced. 

From the summit near the mines, to the head of the chute or inclined 
plane at Mauch Chunk, the distance by the railway is 8 miles, with a descent 
of 767 feet; the descent is nearly uniform, and is, therefore, at the rate of 
96 feet per mile, or 1 in 55. 


159 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

In his official report to the board of managers, dated Philadelphia, 1st 
mo. 12th, 1829, the superintendent observes: “Perhaps some remarks on 
our experience with our railroad, on which has been transported upwards 
of 60,000 tons, may settle the question with some of our stockholders, who 
have doubted the policy of canaling the valley of the Lehigh, in place of 
making a railroad .” (See Doc. No. 18, p. 164.) 

The following estimate, after some remarks regarding the Erie canal, is 
then presented, to wit: 

“ Cost of transportation oji our Railroad for the year 1828. 

tc Mules and horses cost 1§ cents per ton per mile. 

“ Hands, - 1$ do do 

“ Repairing wagons, § do do 

“ Oil for do \ do do 

“ Total, 3 T 5 ^ cents per ton per mile.” 

The superintendent, it appears, has also published estimates, &c. in the 
Mauch Chunk Courier, under date of the 5th mo. 20th, 1830, in which he 
states the cost of mules and drivers for the year 1829, to have been about 
2 cents per ton per mile, being a saving over that of the previous year of 
two-thirds of a cent per ton per mile. The statement proceeds to show that, 
at the date last mentioned, a further economy, to about the same amount, had 
been realized; for that the mules and drivers were then estimated to cost 
only 1^ cts. per ton per mile. The statement is as follows: (See p. 170, 
Doc. No. 18.) 

“ Cost of hands and animal power , from the summit to the end of the 
“ road , descending all the way. 

“28 mules go two trips a day, and draw up 42 coal and 7 mule wagons, 
(to carry down the mules) each trip, &c. going 32 miles a day; the 42 wagons 
each carry 33 cwt. coal each trip; total 134 tons. 

“ 2S mules at 33 cents a day = $9.24 
“ 4 drivers 90 do = 3.60 


“ $12.84 — 134 = 10 cts. 

“ for S miles, or 11 cents per ton per mile.” 

The cost of this heavy item, has, therefore, according to the document, 
been, through good management, decreased, since the year 1828, about 50 
per cent. Nor will this be deemed extraordinary, when we reflect that it 
is impossible for the human mind to embrace, in advance, so as to provide 
for every contingent circumstance that will have a bearing on the economi¬ 
cal management of a new work. It is obviously unfair, therefore, to mea¬ 
sure the value of a whole system by a standard so distorted and monstrous 
as that generally afforded by first experiments. 

We shall now proceed briefly, upon scientific principles, to test the value 
of the descent by gravity, which, it seems, (p. 165) in comparing the cost 
of transit upon it, with that upon canals, is to be reckoned one of “ the fa¬ 
vorable circumstances attending that road,” inasmuch, as “ being located 
upon a plane descending in the direction of the load, and requiring no expen¬ 
sive or complicated machinery in its use, [it] approximates, in facility of 
istrant, to a small canalf (pages 163-4.) 



160 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 


Forty-two wagons laden with 67 tons of coal, and 7 wagons carrying 28 
mules, descend by their gravity, conducted by 4 men, who, with the brakes, 
regulate the speed; otherwise, the distance being 8 miles, and rate of de¬ 
scent 1 in 55, the velocity would become ruinously great. The descent 
having been performed in about li hours, the four drivers return through 
the 8 miles up the ascent of 1 in 55, with the 49 wagons; that is, 21 mules draw 
42 empty coal wagons, and the remaining 7 mules ascend with the 7 mule 
wagons. In order that this round shall be repeated in the day, so as to 
transport 134 tons of coal daily, the ascent has to be performed at the rate 
of about 4 miles per hour, for two hours; so that the two entire trips over a 
distance of 32 miles, are performed, as the day’s work should be, in 8 hours; 
making allowance for detentions at each end of the road, and at the half¬ 
way station, where, it being a single railway, the trains have to pass each 
other. 

The labor performed by each mule in a day, in addition to the muscular 
exertions necessary to his own exertion on a level, is therefore the sum of 
the forces required to overcome his own gravity, together with the gravity ' 
and friction of two empty coal wagons, on 16 miles of railway, ascending 
1 in 55, and at a speed of 4 miles per hour. The way is much curved, and 
some of the curvatures have a radius not exceeding about 160 feet, and there 
is considerable flange friction. The wagons work with inside bearings and 
have wheels two feet in diameter. They have about the same model as the 
English coal wagons with which Tredgold was conversant, and consequent¬ 
ly about the same amount of friction, to wit: the ji^th. 

If the weight of the empiy wagon was one-third of that of its load 
(32 cwt. = 3,584 lbs.) it would be about 1,200 lbs.; but, in the smaller wagons, 
this ratio cannot well be attained: we shall, therefore, in the absence of pre¬ 
cise information on this head, assume it at 1,300 lbs. A mule that will 
perform the work of an average horse, is lighter than the horse, and his 
weight may be about 550 lbs. 

Gravity of the mule = 550 divided by £5 - =10 lbs. 

Gravity of 2 wagons =2,600 divided by 55 « = 47-1 

Friction of do =2,600 divided by 144 - = 18* 


Gravity and friction of 1 mule and 2 empty wagons = 751 

This will be reduced to its equivalent, with a velocity of 2\ miles an hour, 
thus: 

2h : 4 :: 75 : 120$ lbs. = the draught of each mule at 2\ miles per hour 

16 miles in a day, which is somewhat less than 125 lbs. the draught allowed 
for a medium horse IS miles in a day. The difference is probably made up 
in a small increase of the friction, beyond 7 l T , or it may be that, owing to 
the manner of working, the effect is, nevertheless, equivalent to 125 lbs. 
under other circumstances. The difference, however, is small. 

We have calculated what the grade of the road should be, that the trac¬ 
tion necessarily employed in returning with the empty wagons shall be pre¬ 
cisely the same in amount as that used in drawing the loaded wagonsj and 
find it to be about 21 feet per mile, or 1 in 253. At this grade, a horse of 
medium strength, ora mule, if that animal is preferred, will draw nine wa¬ 
gons, as will appear by the following calculation, which will, at the same 
time, show the force of traction to be the same in either direction. To ob¬ 


tain a correct result in the other case, we took into the account of the gravity 
of the agent or mule, and we shall do so here likewise. 



161 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

3584x1300=4884 lbs. wt. of one wagon and its load, and the weight 
of the train of 9 wagons is 43,956 lbs. subject to friction, plus 550 lbs. the 
w't. of mule gives 44,506 lbs. the weight of the entire mass in motion in the 
descending course, and subject to gravity. 

Friction = 43,956 divided by 144=306 
Gravity = 44,506 divided by 253=176. 

Take the difference (for the gravity aids,) 130. 

There remains, therefore, 130 lbs. traction for the work of the animal. 

In ascending, the nine empty wagons will weigh 11,700 lbs. subject to 
friction, plus 550 lbs. for the mule= 12,250 lbs., the whole weight in motion, 
and is retarded by gravity. 

Friction= 11,700 divided by 144 = 81 lbs. 

Gravity = 12,250 divided by 253=49 

The sum of which is - 130 

and the traction, or force exerted, is the same in ascending, as it will be in 
descending. 

The force of 130 lbs. has to be exerted for 16 miles in a day, and this 
is equivalent to a force of traction of 116 lbs. 18 miles in a day; for 
18 : 16 :: 130 : 116. Consequently, this exertion is within that usually reck¬ 
oned as the day’s work of a medium horse. 

In this arrangement, the animal makes but one trip in a day, to wit: he 
travels eight miles down the inclination with the loaded train of nine wa¬ 
gons, and on the same day he is made to return 8 miles up the ascent with the 
train of nine empty wagons: thus, each animal transports 9 wagon loads of 
coal in a day, and 28 mules will convey 250 loads in a day. 

In the actual arrangement, however, the 28 mules make two trips in a day, 
each trip conveying 42 wagons, that is 84 wagon loads per day. 

We see, therefore, that, as the road is actually graded, and, notwithstand¬ 
ing that the laden wagons descend by their gravity, and that the mules ride 
in the bargain, yet the animal power, under these circumstances , has only 
the one-third part of the useful effect that it would have if the line had 
been graded to the best advantage for such a railway. 

Consequently, the power costs threefold what it would then do: added to 
this, the outlay upon the mule wagons , together with their wear and tear, 
and their action upon the railway itself, would likewise be saved. And yet, 
these are the practical results attendant upon the use of a railway that is to 
give tone to the opposition raised against the whole railway system, when 
any part of that system conflicts with a canal! 

With respect to the wear and tear of wagons, which, upon this road, is report¬ 
ed at two-thirds of a cent per ton per mile, (p. 168, Doc. No. 18,) it must be 
borne in mind that the cost is estimated on the distance through which the 
coal is conveyed; which is only one half of that traversed by the wagons, 
these having to return empty; consequently, the wear and tear of the wa¬ 
gons, in returning, is that much more added to the cost of transportation 
per ton of freight, than it would be if the wagons were laden in both direc¬ 
tions. Again: the cost of wagons upon this road is also enhanced, very con¬ 
siderably, by the mule wagons, since the transportation istaxed with the wear 
and tear of one mule wagon in running 16 miles for every 8 miles passed 
over by the coal conveyed in 6 coal wagons, and, likewise, by that occasion¬ 
ed from carrying the mules 8 miles. We must further observe, that this 
estimate was given as the wear and tear that occurred iivthe year 1828, and, 
21 



162 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

therefore, it is augmented by the effects consequent on the high velocities 
which were employed upon this road in that year. It is not doubted that the 
causes here mentioned, without supposing any want in the general economy 
of the concern, either as respects the plans or the constructions, are altogether 
sufficient to account for this item being more than one-fourth of a cent per 
ton per mile. With respect to the effects of the high velocity which swell 
this estimate, as well as that of the cost of repairs of the railway—see “ex¬ 
tracts from letters of Mr. White to a distant correspondent, Matich Chunk, 
3d mo. 5th, 1830,” (p. 171-2, Doc. No. 18.) 

Much reliance has been placed upon the experience with regard to the inju¬ 
rious effects that resulted from the high velocities of 20 to 30 miles an hour, 
which were employed in the descent upon this road during two months of 
the year 1828, and conslusions are drawn from thence against the practicability 
and expediency of high velocities upon all railways. Now, this is a nil- 
way on a very limited scale, peculiarly circumstanced, and very cheaply 
constructed. The way is very narrow, being only three and a half feet in 
width between the rails, the wagons are consequently narrow in proportion, the 
wheels are only two feet in diameter, and some of them, those of the mule 
wagons, for instance, only 20 inches, whilst the track is very much curved, 
even with a radius of 160 feet; the iron bars constituting the rails, are thin, 
narrow, and short, having a thickness of three-eighths, and various widths of 
from 1± to 2 inches, and they were laid upon cheap wood, which yielded to 
the pressure. The cheapness of the construction is indicated by the cost, 
being only S3,050 per mile, inclusive of the graduation of those parts that 
were not laid upon an old turnpike. The wheels were not coned so as to 
suit the curvatures, nor so as to prevent the flanges of the wheels from act¬ 
ing against the rails to the manifest injury of the wheels and railway. The 
centrifugal force in these curvatures with such velocities, doubling the heads 
of deep ravines, and whirling round the abrupt protuberances from the pre¬ 
cipitous mountain side, was awfully great upon this road, as we have more 
than once personally experienced. The number of revolutions for wheels so 
small in diameter, was, by far, too great for the useful durability of the parts 
subject to attrition, unless the journals and boxes had been protected from 
dust, and otherwise constructed in the very best manner—conditions which 
cannot have place, it is believed, with bearings inside of the wheels. Nor 
would any velocity secure the advantage of a third trip upon this road in the 
same day. Viewing all these conditions, we should think it exceedingly 
evident, that rashness itself would scarcely contend for the higher velocities 
here that could safely and profitably be maintained where every part should 
be planned and formed upon correct scientific-principles, with a view to such 
a result. And where, but in the want of information with regard to the phi¬ 
losophy of motion and forces upon railways, are we to look for a charita¬ 
ble reason, why the little peculiar railway under consideration, and the ope¬ 
rations upon it, should be used as a measure in estimating the value of rail¬ 
ways, and the degree of speed admissible upon them? 

In the first place, the Mauch Chunk railway is located and constructed 
and traversed in a manner rendering it impossible that it should approximate, 
in its effects, to any thing beyond those of “a small canal” and its use is 
suspended nearly one half of the year, in consequence of the canal, to which 
it is made only an aid, being unnavigable from the effects of frost in that 
mountain region, or for repairs. In a word, the fate of this railway has 
been predetermined to be such, that it can at best only belong to a grade of 
mprovement ranging between turnpike roads and canals; and, in the next 


163 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

place, we are told with emphasis that in its use it approximates to that of 
“ a small canal ” and that, in general, railroads must be considered as oc¬ 
cupying a place intermediate between canals and turnpike roads. 

The useful effect of a horse on the Cumberland turnpike road, of a mule 
on the Mauch Chunk railway, and of a horse on the Baltimore and Ohio 
railroad, taking the latter as reported by W. Woodville, the agent of trans¬ 
portation, and performed chiefly with the chilled-box car, will be respec¬ 
tively tons, 38| tons, and 227 h. tons, drawn one mile in a day; being in 
the ratio of the three numbers, 1, 5$, and 31§; from which it will appear— 

1st. That the animal force of traction is rather more than five times as 
effective on the Mauch Chunk railway, as it is on the turnpike road between 
Baltimore and Wheeling, whilst, on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, it is 
31 times as effective. 

2d. That these effects are about 6 James as great on the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad as they are on the Mauch Chunk railway; that a mean be¬ 
tween the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and that turnpike being 122 tons, 
conveyed one mile in a day, therefore the Mauch Chunk railway, in this 
respect, scarcely reaches to one-third of that mean. 

In dismissing this branch of the inquiry, we think it proper to state, 
distinctly, that it has been no part of our purpose to endeavor to show that 
the affairs of the Lehigh coal and navigation company have been mis¬ 
managed. Far from it. As pioneers in the cause of internal improve¬ 
ment, they have done much, and their efforts should be duly appreciated. 
Our purpose has only been to exercise our limited efforts defensively, after 
being driven, as it were, “to the wall,” in document No. 18, publish¬ 
ed and circulated throughout the Union at the public expense, (the right 
or propriety of which we do not question,) in essaying to make it evidently 
appear that, whether this railway had been located, constructed, and man-' 
aged, properly or improperly, scientifically or otherwise, yet the facts attend¬ 
ant upon it were such as by no means to justify the erroneous conclusions 
which we apprehended might possibly, if left unnoticed, be drawn from the 
numerous quotations and remarks in relation to this railway, which appear 
in that document. 

The period fixed upon for the duration of wagons upon the Mauch Chunk 
railway, is four years, as appears in document No. 18, page 170. In our 
estimate of cars, however, for great lines of railway, we have predicated the 
amount of cost upon superior plans of construction, and which, it is confi¬ 
dently believed, will ensure more durability, and have assigned five years 
as the limit of duration. We have estimated the annual expense accord¬ 
ingly, at the same time having due regard to practicability. It may be 
pertinent here to state that, in the autumn of 1830, we visited the line of the 
railway of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, situated in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and observed the operations upon it. At Carbondale, we were par¬ 
ticularly informed by the engineer and the superintendent in relation to 
the cost of repairs in the wagon department. Each wagon carried 2| tons 
of coal; had 3 feet wheels and inside bearings, the body resting upon the axles 
by means of cast iron chairs or seats , which, like those of the old English 
coal wagon, were not chilled or hardened; consequently elicited the more 
frietion and wear and tear. This wagon, however, compared very well 
with those at Killingworth, England, and had the same friction, to wit, ? J 0 ths. 
Their first cost is $120. The following is our memorandum made on the 
occasion, at Carbondale: 


164 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ Wear of Wagons. 

“ The bodies or beds must be renewed every two years. These bodies 
cost $30. The iron work would be good at the end of the two years, and 
thus the renewing would cost about $10 or $5 per year. The wheels will 
last five years, if well chilled, but, with the loose wheels, the flanges will 
wear out first, to wit: J. Archbald, the superintendent, thinks in three years, 
and hence they are going to adopt the method of fast wheels as decidedly 
the best. 

“ The seats must be renewed once a year. They cost about $1 75 per wagon. 
The axle must be taken off, and new collars put on, and turned once a year; 
cost $3 00; add for contingencies, such as repairing brakes and other mat¬ 
ters, $5 25 per annum; making the annual repairs of a wagon, $15 00.” 

In order to perpetuate the wagon, we must add, for the renewing of the 
wheels, say $7 75 per annum, and $7 20 for interest, plus $2 40 for inter¬ 
est on spare wagons; the whole amounting to $32 35, as the entire estima¬ 
ted annual charge incident to the use of a coal wagon used on this railroadj 

The wagons are made to travel 4 miles per hour on this railway, and they 
will therefore make one trip in a day, to wit, 16 miles with coal, and 16 
miles back empty. The operations upon this railway being also affected by 
the navigation upon a canal, we will assume 225 days as the duration of the 
year’s work; and one wagon will carry in a year 2§ x 16 x 225 = 9900 tons 
coal, one mile, for 3235 cents; being ^ of a cent per ton per mile, and just one 
half the estimate at Mauch Chunk, given in page 164, document No. 18. 

The cost of coal wagons, however, will continue to be greater than that 
of cars on other railways, in consequence of the greater wear and tear of the 
bodies. 

With regard to the cost of transportation on this railway, between Car- 
bondale and Honesdale, I have no doubt that it is three or four fold more 
than it would be on a level railway of equal length, even with the imperfect 
wagons there employed. A level road would be 16 miles in length. From 
Carbondale, the coal is elevated to the summit of the mountain at Rix’s gap, 
by means of five stationary steam engines, that work as many inclined planes. 
There are short levels between, worked by animal power, and there is from 
the mines to the foot of plane No. 1, at Carbondale, a distance of 2250 feet, 
having an ascent of 1 in 75, also worked by horses. The whole altitude 
overcome in ascending the mountain is about S50 feet. The wagons used, 
have a friction in equiiibrio with gravity, on an inclination from a level of 
26.4 feet in a mile. Wherefore, the power of traction wrnuld be doubled on 
an ascent of 26.4 feet in a mile. Hence the gravity opposes an ascent of 
each 26.4 feet, with a force equal to that opposed by the friction on a mile 
of the level parts of the railway; and, consequently, as many times 26.4,as 
is contained in 850 feet, the rise of the mountain, by just so many miles of 
level road, would it virtually lengthen the distance. This will add 32 miles 
to the 16. Again: although the roads descend about 700 feet by gravity 
upon self-acting planes, yet the cost of ropes and other machinery is so con¬ 
siderable, that I doubt not other sixteen miles should be added; and we thus 
conclude that a level railway, 64 miles in length, between Carbondale and 
Honesdale, would be as economical as the present one, which is only 16 
miles in length. 

Benjamin Wright, whose name has been already mentioned, had, it ap¬ 
pears from page 173, document No. IS, examined into the cost of transpor- 


165 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

tation on this railway, at the desire of the company, and reported the cost 
to be frum 3^ to 3$ cents per ton per mile; and we have every confidence 
in the correctness of his statement. When we visited that road, we found 
fit to be about 3£ cents per ton per mile, when the quantity of coal trans¬ 
ported was 250 tons daily. But the engines and machinery were calculated 
for a transit of 400 ton^ daily, and it was the opinion of the superintendent, 
when the latter mentioned tonnage should be passed, which they expected 
to effect, the cost would be reduced to about 2£ cents per ton per mile, or 
87^ cents for the 16 miles. 

Taking, however, the cost at 3£ cents, and equating for a level road, wq 
have 64 : 16 : : 3i to very little more I of a cent per ton per mile. 

Inclined planes, worked by stationary power, become quite expensive 
per ton per mile, however, when the tonnage is so small as 250 tons per 
day, or about 56,000 tons in a year of 225 days, which, it appears, is the 
time calculated upon for the navigation that is to connect the market with 
the railway. Let the quantity be increased to from 500 to 1000 tons per day, 
which it should be on a great line of railway, and let the railway be untram¬ 
melled by a canal, so that it could continue active through the winter season, 
and the case will be widely different. 

It should be recollected that the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company 
have had the honor of being the first in America to introduce the stationary 
steam engine system upon a railway. May they be well rewarded for their 
enterprise! 

Presuming that it will not be doubted by any one that so small a quantity 
as 56,000 tons per annum is transported 16 miles across a mountain summit 
850 feet in height above the termini of the road, in the manner that has been 
mentioned, at a cost of about 3i cents per ton per mile, including the pay, 
hire, boarding, and feeding of all the men and horses, and the cost of harness; 
also superintendence and the depot expenses at Honesdale; also the expenses 
of working the engines, fuel, and engineering; the repairs of ropes and of 
wagons, and the supply of oil; do we not see how entirely practicable it is 
to pass the Alleghany mountain, from the eastern to the western waters, in 
precisely the same manner? It would not require more than double the 
altitude already mentioned, and perhaps not so much, to connect the parts 
of the railrdad upon which the locomotive engine could ply on either side, 
by a line of railway without a tunnel, that should be .worked with station¬ 
ary power. The length of this part of the railway, as it would overcome, 
say double the height, would likewise be twice the length of the railroad of 
the Delaware and Hudson Company; consequently, since the fuel would be 
equally abundant and cheap on the Alleghany, the transportation should not 
cost more than on that road in the distance embraced by the system of in¬ 
clined planes and stationary engines, notwithstanding that the amount of 
tonnage should be vastly less than that which would unquestionably pa$s up¬ 
on a railway that should connect the tides of the Chesapeake with the steam¬ 
boat navigation of the Ohio. When passengers shall be added to the con¬ 
veyance, as they will be across the mountains, the railway being continuous 
and operative throughout the year, it could not fail to be immensely profit¬ 
able, as a stock, and proportionally advantageous to the country. 

The charge for the carriage of commodities from Baltimore to Wheeling, 
on the turnpike road, averages about 2 cents per lb. or $44 80 per ton on 
the whole distance of 266 miles, being at the rate of about 17 cents per ton 
per mile! 


166 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

We will now compare this with what may be the cost of transit per ton 
per mile over that part of a railway to connect the Chesapeake and Ohio, 
which would be much the most expensive to manage, as it would necessa¬ 
rily be incumbered with the stationary system and inclined planes. Length 
32 miles. 

The route may be supposed pretty expensive, and may probably cost 
§20,000 per mile in the construction, or §640,000. Sixteen stationary 
steam engines, houses and fixtures, at §10,000 each, (§6,000 was the cost on 
the Delaware and Hudson railroad, but these should be more powerful,) is 
§160,000, making together §800,000, or §25,000 per mile; the annual in¬ 
terest of which is §1,500, and, for the present we shall assume the repairs of 
the railway at §500 per mile per annum. The annual charge for the capi¬ 
tal, including repairs of the railway, therefore, is §2,000 per mile. 

We shall now assume, (which will be too low) that only about thrice the 
tonnage shall pass the Alleghanies, in both directions , in the year of 312 
days, that has been mentioned as passing in one direction only on the Del¬ 
aware and Hudson railroad, in 225 days, to wit, 150,000 tons. A toll of 
1§ cents per ton per mile will pay the estimate of §2,000 for interest and 
repairs; and if we assume the cost of transportation to be equal to that on 
the other railway, under the disadvantages mentioned above in relation to 
it, ihat is, 3i cents, then the toll and transportation together will amount 
to 4 T 7 f , or a little exceeding 4^ cents per ton per mile. 

It is highly probable, therefore, that the entire charge upon this mountain 
section of the railroad will not exceed the one-fourth part of the present rate 
of charge upon our turnpike roads. The charge of 4 \ cents will not be far 
from that which the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company is allowed by law 
to make. The investment would therefore be remunerated, while the pub¬ 
lic could be saved three fourths of the cost of carriage on the turnpike road, 
upon a trade immensely augmented. 

It will be recollected that this result in the calculation has been attained 
without allowing any income from the conveyance of passengers, and like¬ 
wise without drawing to the aid of this expensive section any part of the 
greater profits to accrue from the more level portions, and which will con¬ 
stitute, by far, the greater part of the entire railway. 

Although the stationary system is entirely practicable, yet being more 
expensive than either, that of locomotive engines or horses, that system 
should not be resorted to upon a level, nor upon grades where the other 
. modes will apply to advantage. It should therefore be employed only 
where great and sudden changes of altitude have to be met. 

In the parallel which we have just drawn between the railway of the Del¬ 
aware and Hudson Company, and one which should be made to overcome 
that part of a route across the Alleghany mountain, requiring the stationary 
engine system, we must not be considered as in anywise indicating the route 
by which that mountain should be passed by a railway to extend from the 
Chesapeake to the Ohio, since the point at which the Ohio should be inter¬ 
sected has not been fixed. 

Having made this explanation, we shall now claim indulgence while we 
briefly contrast the railway and canal systems upon the routes surveyed and 
estimated across that mountain for the Chesapeake and Ohio canal; and, in 
doing this, we shall not avail ourselves of the estimate of the United States’ 
board of internal improvement, at the head of which was General Bernard: 
on the contrary, we shall take that stated on pages 122, 3, 4, 5, of document 
No. 18, as the estimate of N. S. Roberts and A. Cruger,^ civil engineers- 


167 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 


This section of the route includes the summit level, upon which there is to 
to be a tunnel four miles in length, piercing the mountain upon a level some 
S00 feet below its crest; it likewise includes the reservoirs to supply the 
summit level and contiguous parts with water. The length is 35| miles 
with 139 locks, overcoming an altitude of 1028 feet on the eastern side of 
the summit, and 28 locks lifting 224 feet on the western side. The dis¬ 
tances and estimate may be stated as follows: 

Miles. Chs. 

Summit level .5 40 estimated to cost - - $ 1,856 056 

Eastern side 15 60 - l,37o’,618 

Western side 14 40 - 503,042 


Totals, 35 


60 


3,729,716 


This amount upon 351 miles is at the rate of $104,320 per mile. 

These estimates are predicated upon a breadth of 4S feet, and a depth of 5 
feet for the canal, excepting the tunnel, which was to be 22 feet wide, in¬ 
clusive of 5 feet for the towing path. The cost of the tunnel alone is esti¬ 
mated at $1,610,821; but the author of document No. 18, on page 120, 
gives his opinion that the width allowed “ is about 17 feet less than the great¬ 
est utility of the work would require,’’ and, after commenting upon the es¬ 
timate of the engineers, further advances his opinion that the cost of the 
tunnel should be “put down at $2,200,000, including all contingencies.” 

We shall proceed, however, without correcting the estimate of the en¬ 
gineers, as is here recommended, although it is much less than the sum esti¬ 
mated by the United States’ board of internal improvement; and it will be 
observed that, supposing, in case of a railroad, the tunnel should be dis¬ 
pensed with, then the proportion of the altitude to be overcome, compared 
with the distance or length of the road, will be about the same as that of the 
Delaware and Hudson railroad, or of the one which we had supposed would 
be required upon almost any route across the Alleghany mountain. And, 
therefore, the cost per mile of both toll and transportation, will not exceed 4£ 
cents per ton, as we have already endeavored to show. 

Let the cost per ton per mile now be reckoned upon these 35f miles of 
canal, the construction of which is estimated to cost $104,320 per mile. 

On account of the great number of locks, and the magnitude of the reser- 
roirs, which would have to be maintained upon this short section of canal, the 
repairs would go much beyond an average amount for canals, and we think it 
a moderate assumption to rate the annual repairs, in this instance, at $1,000 
per mile. 

An allowance for attendance at the locks must likewise be made, inasmuch 
as, upon the railroad, the cost of transportation, at the same as upon the Dela¬ 
ware and Hudson railway, which included the engineering and attendance 
at the stationary engines and inclined planes; we shall set down the 
attendance at only $100 per annum per lock; which, for 167 locks in 35| 
miles, is $467 per mile: 

The tolls will therefore depend upon the following items of annual inter- 


est and expense per mile: 

1. Interest on $104,320, (the cost per mile) - 


- $6,259 

2. Repairs per mile, - 

- 

1,000 

3. Attendance at the locks, ... 

“ 

467 

Amounting per annum, per mile, to 


87,726 






168 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The toll, therefore, when 150,000 tons shall pass in a year, (as was as¬ 
sumed in estimating for the railroad,) must be 5 s, ora little exceeding 5 
cents per ton per mile. 

The cost of transportation has yet to be added. It is contended by some, 
that the cost of transportation at 2$ miles per hour upon a spacious canal, 
(with but little lockage, it is presumed,) can be reduced to half a cent per 
ton a mile. If we take this favorable assumption, and allow the speed to 
be 2h miles per hour, when there is one lock to the mile, the time employed 
in passing 353 miles will be 14 hours. In addition to one lock to the mile, 
there will here be 131 locks, and the time allowed for passing them, accord¬ 
ing to the estimate of the United States’ board of internal improvement, (see 
page 101, document No. 18,) is 17 hours. The whole time spent in pass¬ 
ing these 353 miles of canal will, therefore, be 31 hours, and the cost of 
transportation will be proportionably increased; then 14 : 31 : : h a cent: 
cents per ton per mile. 

The entire cost, therefore, to be charged upon this section of the canal, 
will be (according to the data) 6^ cents per ton per mile; whereas upon a 
railroad, worked upon the stationary engine system, it will not exceed 4§ 
cents. 

It must be borne in mind that this comparison is founded solely upon the 
freight of commodities; that the railroad will be relieved, to a considerable 
extent, by the receipts from the conveyance of passengers and the mails, 
whilst the tolls upon the canal, independent of the transportation, would ex¬ 
ceed both the tolls and transportation of commodities on the railroad. 

It must likewise be recollected that we have transferred the cost of trans¬ 
portation found to obtain upon the Delaware and Hudson railroad, when the 
quantity transported daily was only 250 tons, or 56,000 tons per annum, 
to the estimate for the railway across the Alleghany; but it should be re¬ 
membered, that the rates of transportation by means of stationary power, 
becomes much reduced when the engines and planes are worked more 
nearly to the limits of their full capacity. The steam, engines, machinery, 
and attendance, will remain to be very nearly the same. We feel author¬ 
ized, therefore, to estimate the cost of transportation by means of stationary 
engines when working to the best advantage, where coal is as cheap as it 
will be on the Alleghany at H cents per ton per mile, at the most. 

If it belaid that double the tonnage which we have allowed, or 300,000 
tons per annum, will pass the mountains, we say, in that case, that the capa¬ 
city of the engines and planes will be competent to this, and that the cost 
of toll and transportation by the railway would not exceed 2\ cents per ton 
per mile, whilst it would still be as much as 33 cents by the canal. 

So recently as the beginning of the year 1829, the relative economy of 
the stationary and locomotive systems, upon level railways, or upon those 
but slightly inclined, was warmly contested in England, and the question 
was not put at rest until the recent improvements in the locomotive engine, 
already alluded to, took place. 

About that time, the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway 
Company appointed two engineers of known ability, (Walker and Rastrick,) 
to examine the railways in England, and to report “what, under all cir¬ 
cumstances, is the best description of moving power to be employed upon 
the Liverpool and Manchester railway.” See Reports, &c., Carey & Lea, 
Philadelphia, 1831. These engineers reported that the amount of freight, 
to wit, 2,000 tons, might he conveyed daily in each direction between Liver- 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] .. 169 

pool and Manchester, at the rate of 10 miles per hour, either by the fixed 
engine, or by the locomotive system; they appeared to incline rather in 
favor of the former, since they conceived it necessary, in either case, to 
work the Kainhill and Sutton planes, ascending 1 in 96, with fixed engines 
Without including the wear and tear of wagons, and rating their friction at 
the j J 0 , these engineers reported the rate of cost per ton per mile, upon the 
locomotive principle, to be - - - .2787 of a penny. 

And upon the stationary plan, ... .2134 of a penny. 

And by horse power, - .4500 of a penny. 

The latter, when the horse takes back the empty coal wagons. This es¬ 
timate for horse power was made from the operations of the horse at a speed 
of miles per hour, upon the Brenton and Sheelds railway. It should 
here be noted that the purchase of one such horse, was there, at that time, 
£40 j and his keeping £50 per annum; and we see from this, that the cost 
of that animal is there twice as great as in the United States. 

The report, as has been mentioned, was not very decided as to which 
system should be adopted, notwithstanding the expense for a very large trade 
predominated in favor of the stationary plan, each system had its peculiar 
advantages and disadvantages. 

The engineer of that railway, however, was very decided in favor of the 
locomotive system, and the directors offered a premium of £500 for the 
best improved engine of a given weight and power. In the course of that 
year, the locomotive engine received new and valuable improvements, and 
the question which, for years, had been unsettled, was now determined in 
favor of that engine. Its relative powers, in 182S and 1S30, have been al¬ 
ready stated. 

Since the improved locomotives were brought into use, it has been esti¬ 
mated that the expense, per ton per mile, by these engines, 
will be ------ .164 of a penny, 

And by the stationary system - .269 of a penny. 

We are not yet prepared to say, from experience, what the cost of con¬ 
veyance by the locomotive system will be in this country. We think it 
probable, however, that an engine, capable of conveying 30 tons of freight 
120 miles in a day, will cost, including interest, repairs, renewals, en¬ 
gineering, attendance, and fuel, from $9 to $15 per day, according to the 
price of fuel at the place demanded; and the cost per ton per mile, in the 
one case, will be i of a cent, and in the other 5-12, or something less than 
I of a cent—more exactly .417 of a cent. 

Now the cost of horses and their drivers, was found to be, 
when 1 man drives 1 horse, per ton per mile - - .4 of a cent, 

and when 1 man drives 2 horses - *267 of a cent 

When, therefore, the locomotive engine costs but $9 a day, it will be 
cheaper than horse power, under either of the foregoing circumstances; but 
when it shall cost $15 a day, it will cost about as much as horse power. . 

In all places, therefore, where coal is cheap, the power of the locomotiv© 
engine will be cheaper than that of the horse, when the latter moves at a 
speed of 2\ or 3 miles per hour, and the former at 10 miles. 

The great advantage, however, to result from the locomotive engine, 
does not so much consist in the small saving that there may be in the cost 
of conveyance at slow speeds, as in the circumstance that the cost of transit 
by it, will be very nearly as cheap at 10 miles per hour as at any less ve¬ 
locity; and this adds greatly to the capacity of the railway, and lessens the 
22 


170 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

number of cars necessary to do the same amount of business; while the 
freight can be carried, without conflicting with the regular and speedy con¬ 
veyance of passengers, or the mail. Upon some lines of railway, it may 
become expedient to travel with a velocity of 15, and even 20 miles per 
hour: and, as any speed, exceeding 10 miles, is obviously beyond the capa¬ 
bility of the horse, the locomotive steam engine can, alone, there be used 
in the conveyance of passengers. 

With regard to the cost of transportation upon canals, there are various 
and conflicting statements, as well as in respect to railways. We have 
shown that the cost by the latter when level, or slightly departing from a 
level, may be reduced to about half a cent per ton per mile, with horses, 
including the cost of cars, and that it will vary according to the number of 
drivers employed, from that to §ths of a cents. It appears that, on the 
Erie canal, the cost, with boats of 40 tons burthen, is one cent per ton per 
mile, with full loads in one direction, and empty in the other. 

The information we personally obtained, in the autumn of 1830, upon 
the works of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, in relation to 
their canal, was, that two men, a boy, and a horse, would convey a boat, 
freighted with 25 tons of coal, 20 miles in a day; in October, however, 
owing to the want of water, the quantity carried was only 20 tons. The 
transportation was done by contract for $1 50 per ton; the length of the 
canal being 108 miles, the cost per ton per mile was of a cent, ex¬ 
clusive of tolls; but they hoped to economize to $1 25, or per ton per mile, 
l- 1 ^. This very well agrees with Judge Wright’s statement of “one cent 
to one cent two mills.” See Doc. No. 18, p. 173. 

The present cost of transit, on the Lehigh canal, in rough arks , is one 
cent per ton per mile. See Doc. No. 18, p. 173. 

With a boat of 75 tons burthen, Josiah White, the superintendent, esti¬ 
mates the cost of transportation on the Lehigh canal to be about | of a cent 
per ton per mile. P. 170. 

This is an unusually spacious canal, being 60 feet wide, and 5 feet deep; 
and there is no doubt that, with a velocity as low as 2| miles per hour, 
the traction of a horse would be more effective here than on a level railway, 
but it would be otherwise at any higher rate of speed. 

With respect to the two lesser canals just mentioned, it does not appear 
that they have any advantage over the railway; as respects the cost of trans¬ 
portation where horses are employed, they would certainly not compare 
with a railway upon which the locomotive engine could be properly used, 
not to say any thing as to the advantages which the railway would possess 
over the canals in the winter season. 

The greatest advantages which the railway will possess over the canal, 
when horse power is employed, will consist in the continuity of the transit 
upon the railway throughout the whole of the year; as the two most potent 
enemies to canals, drought and frost, do not prevent operations upon the 
railway; and, likewise, in its peculiar fitness for the conveyance of passen¬ 
gers, light and valuable goods, and the mails at velocities from 3 to 10 miles 
per hour—a range of speed, demonstrated, by experience, to be within the 
powers of the horse, and throughout which, his effects upon the railway 
predominate beyond dispute. 

With regard to the conveyance of persons, light goods, and the mails, 
it ean scarcely be doubted that the facilities offered by the railway system, 
even with horses as the motive power, beyond those afforded by either 




[ Doc. No. 101. ] 171 

canals or turnpike roads, will be such as to insure to that system a favora- 
ble reception, and that railways will be required by the country, even 
should they be preceded in the order of time by canals. And when it is 
recollected that the useful effect of horses will be a maximum, at about the 
same speed at which it will also be equal on both the railway and the 
canal, to wit, about 2| miles per hour, may not the great advantages, to 
arise from the operations of the railway through the winter season, in 
equalizing trade, affording regular supplies, preventing scarcities as well as 
monopolies; taking to the distant market the products of the soil, when 
the farmer can best prepare his crops for that purpose; rendering unne¬ 
cessary an expensive and undue accumulation of stock and capital at mills, 
mines, iron works, and other manufactories, and promoting the general 
industry; we say, may not these great advantages, attendant upon the con¬ 
veyance of bulky, heavy, and less costly commodities, when added to that 
acknowledged even by the advocates of the canal system to exist with 
respect to the mails, passengers, and light goods, be sufficient to decide the 
public in favor of the railway system? How decisive will these advantages 
be, therefore, when the locomotive engine shall be employed, the expense 
of which will be about the same, at a speed of 10 miles per hour as at any 
less velocity? See Wood’s Treatise, ed. 1831, p. 431. 

Cost of construction and repairs . 

The graduation and masonry of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad have 
been completed as far as to Frederick city, 60 miles, and to the “ Point of 
Hocks” at the Potomac river, 67£ miles from the depot at Baltimore; and 
a double railway has been laid down through three-fourths of the distance 
to Frederick, and a single track on the residue of the distance to that city, 
as well as a single track to the “ Point of Rocks,” with the exception of a 
space of one or two miles, which could not be laid on account of the se¬ 
verity of the present winter at its setting in. The materials are collected 
and collecting for the second track throughout to the Potomac. The branch, 
connecting the main stem of the road with Frederick, is 3£ miles in length, 
and it unites with the main line on the western bank of the Monocacy 
river, 56^ miles from Baltimore. 

Almost the whole of the expenses of construction have, therefore, been 
already incurred, and it is easily foreseen what amount will be required to 
complete the work to the extent already mentioned. For information on 
this head, we will quote from the fifth annual report of the President and 
Directors to the Stockholders made, in October last, as follows: “The actual 
cost of graduation and masonry upon the 71 miles between Baltimore and 
the Point of Rocks, including the lateral road to Frederick, will not exceed 
$1,101,615, or $15,500 per mile; and that the cost of a double set of tracks 
upon the main stem of the road, and of a single set on the lateral road to 
Frederick, will not exceed $805,238, or$ll,62S per mile of road, with 
a double set of tracks; thus making the total cost of graduating the entire 
line of these portions of the road, and of laying the rails upon them, 
$!,906,S53, or $27,128 per mile. About one-third of this line will be 
laid with stone rails, and the remaining two-thirds with wood.” 

In this charge is included the heavy expenditures incurred on the first 
division of the road. According to the report of the superintendent of 
graduation and masonry hereinbefore referred to, it appears that the gradua- 


172 


I 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

tion and masonry ef the 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th divisions of the road, em¬ 
bracing the entire line between Ellicott’s mills and the Potomac river, and 
extending over a distance of 54£ miles, will cost $465,443, or $8,540 per 
mile; if to this be added $11,62S, the average cost of laying a double set 
of tracks on the entire line between Baltimore and the Point of Hocks, the 
actual cost of graduation, masonry, and laying a double track of rails on 
the road between Ellicott’s mills and the Potomac, will be $20,168 per 
mile; and this district, it is believed, may be assumed as affording a fair 
specimen of the laGor and expense which will be incurred on the remain¬ 
ing line of the road, from the Point of Rocks to the coal mines in Alleghany 
tounty.” 

We are induced to believe that the fact would not be far from what is 
here assumed. The distance from the Point of Rocks to Cumberland, by 
the route surveyed for the canal, is about 140 miles. The route of the rail¬ 
road, however, would be made to cut off bends of the river which the canal 
would have to traverse, and it is probable that the line of the railroad would 
be less than 130 miles in length, say 130 miles, at $20,168 per mile, 

is - - - - - - - - $2,621,840 

Cost from Baltimore to the Potomac ... 1,906,853 


And the estimated probable cost of a double railway, from Bal¬ 
timore to Cumberland, is - - - - - $4,528,693 

We are inclined to the opinion that the actual cost would approximate 
much more nearly to the amount just given, than the round sum of 
$5,000,000, as given, in our report, to a committee of the Legislature of 
Maryland, last winter. 

The report, just alluded to, was made to the President of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad Company at his request, in order to enable him to com¬ 
ply with a call from the Committee on Internal Improvements of the Legis¬ 
lature of Maryland, inquiring “into the relative expense, benefits, and 
facilities of constructing railroads and canals, with a view of ascertaining 
to which of these means the funds of the State can be most beneficially 
applied. ,, 

It will be perceived, therefore, that, in making this report, we did not 
voluntarily enter upon debateable ground, but, from a sense of duty, made 
such statements and observations as we considered pertinent to the com¬ 
plex inquiry, and which our limited knowledge and ability allowed us to 
compile. 

This report has been noticed in the third annual report of the President 
and Directors to the Stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com¬ 
pany, in a spirit and style most satisfactory to themselves. The third an¬ 
nual report, however, which contained the criticisms, does not appear to 
have been accompanied by the report which it professed to review and 
criticise: it is to be presumed, therefore, that the stockholders are yet unac¬ 
quainted with that report. 

In the hope that the report may be allowed to accompany the remarks in 
regard to it, and that it may share the public favor to the same extent as 
the commentary upon it in Doc. No. IS, it is hereto appended and number¬ 
ed 3. It is asserted, in effect, in Doc. No. IS, page 35, when commenting 
upon this report, (now numbered 3,) that there were about 10 miles out of 
the 12, between the “Point of Rocks” and Harper’s Ferry, not surveyed 
by us, and that our survey was “exclusively directed to those narrow 



[ Doc. No. 101. ] 173 

passes, as the only lines of expected interference between the canal and 
railroad.” 

We reply, that this is an error on the part of the writer, which he has 
possibly fallen into from the circumstance that this part of the line of the 
railway was not definitively, that is, finally located, and staked out ready for 
contract; all the preliminary suveys and levels, however, were taken for 
this purpose, and we have not, therefore, spoken of ground with which we 
were not perfectly familiar. 

The reasons assigned in the third annual report to the Canal Company 
(see 1st paragraph, page 36, Doc. No. 18,) are, no doubt, not the true ones why 
the construction of the canal should cost more than that of the railroad to 
which it is parallel; and the advantages over the canal possessed by the rail¬ 
road, in that respect, upon such ground, are thereby demonstrated. 

We are still of opinion, that the expense of constructing a canal from 
Baltimore to the “ Point of Rocks” would be double what the railroad be¬ 
tween the same points will cost. But our “reason” for*'that opinion 
was not that imputed to us in Doc. No. 18, p. 33. Upon a reference to 
that report, which, as before mentioned, is hereto annexed, and k numbered 3, 
it will be found that we did not, on that occasion, detail our reasohs for this 
opinion. The paragraph which it seems has been regarded as containing 
our “ reason,” is entirely independent of that in which we gave our opinion 
in relation to the route between Baltimore and the Point of Rocks. So far, 
therefore, was ihe sentence in which mention is made of Doctor Howard’s 
estimate for a canal between Georgetown and Baltimore, from affording the 
“reason” for the opinion asserted in the paragraph which preceded, that it 
concerned a route entirely distinct and separate from that between Balti¬ 
more and the Point of Rocks. 

Exception has been taken to our estimate of the probable cost of walling 
the inner banks of the canal, (p. 39,) and it is asserted that “more than 
40,000 superficial yards, one foot in thickness, of such walls, have already 
been constructed in 'the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, at the cost of less than 
16 cents a yard, including the price of transporting the stone some distance 
by land.” It is believed that the slope generally given to the interior 
banks of canals, is 1| to 1: with 6 feet depth of water, then, and a bank 
two feet above the water, the base of the slope of each bank would be 14 
feet. It is believed to be necessary, in order to secure the banks from the 
action of the water, and from the injurious effects of frost, as well as to 
render the wall itself secure, that it should be based upon the bottom of 
the canal, and be made to extend to the top of the bank, which is 2 feet 
above the usual surface of the water. The shortest distance from the bot¬ 
tom of the canal to the top of the bank, measured on the slope," wilj, there¬ 
fore, be 16 feet; hence, the number of superficial yards of such a bank, 
one mile in length, will be 9,3S7, and of both banks IS,774 yards. At 
the price of 16 cents, which it is alleged such walling has been built for, 
the cost for a mile of the canal would be $3,003 84, whilst our esti¬ 
mate was $5,000. This wall is only one foot thick, but we are of opi¬ 
nion it should be IS inches in thickness, to insure its stability, and to pre¬ 
vent the water from sapping the bank through its crevices: then the cost, 
if it should be in proportion to the quantity of stone used, would be about 
$4,500 per mile. An angle of 45 degrees instead of 30, which we have 
been allowed for the slope, would be preferable when the bank is walled. 
In situations where artificial embankments form the canal, Ihe walling 


174 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

should be postponed until these embankments have subsided in their set¬ 
tling, after which they will be found not to have a less slope than 30 degrees, 
when, to adjust their slope to 45 degrees, would be more costly than to face 
it at 30 degrees. 

In forming a wall one foot thick, £ of a cubic yard, or , 3 / of a mason’s 
perch, if stone is employed, and the rule is for the mason to charge the same 
for a wall 18 inches thick as he would be entitled to for one of that thick¬ 
ness, inasmuch as the facing is the same in either case, whilst the wall of a 
less thickness must be laid with more care to ensure comparative stability. 
This charge, therefore, for the laying of of a perch of wall one foot thick, 
will be the same as for of a perch. Now, if we reckon at the low rate 
of 25 cents per perch for the mason, and cents for his attendance after 
the materials are all upon the spot, and the banks properly dressed to re¬ 
ceive the wall, the cost will be about 31i «ents per perch, amounting upon 
of a perch, to about 17 cents as the cost of each superficial yard, under 
these circumstances , instead of 16 cents, the cost alleged. It is unacounta- 
ble, therefore, how the wall could have been erected for 16 cents a yard, in¬ 
cluding the transportation of the materials “ some distance by land,” unless, 
indeed, we suppose the laborer, as is too often the case in public works, not 
to have received adequate remuneration. 

In addition to the 31i cents, there should be added, in making an esti¬ 
mate, an allowance to remunerate the proprietor of the quarry, and likewise 
for quarrying and transportation; and it will be seldom found that the cost 
of a rubble wall will be less than from 75 to 100 cents per mason’s perch, or, 
in terms of the superficial yard, from 40^ to 54 cents. It has been asserted 
that it is unnecessary to face with stone more than a part of the slope of the 
bank, at and near to the surface of the water; should this be so, our estimatewill 
have been too high. We should, however, lack confidence in a wall built 
for 16 cents a yard, and also in one not founded on a level with the bottom 
of the canal, unless it were based upon a rock. 

It is conceded, that, where the materials of which the wall is constructed 
are excavated in the formation of the canal, leaving a rock bound bank on 
one side, its cost will be reduced below our estimate, but the excavation ac¬ 
count will be fully charged with the quarrying. It will be recollected, how¬ 
ever, that it has been said (Doc. No. 18, p. 35) that only about two miles 
out of the twelve, between the Point of Rocks and Harper’s Ferry, are of 
this favored description. 

In the earnestness of the commentator to defend his favorite work, it 
would seem that his imagination has applied to the canal along the Potomac, 
our remarks in relation to canals in general, and, accordingly (p. 40, Doc. 
No. 18) treats our judgment in the words following, to wit: 

“ What shall be thought of the judgment which, under the climate of Ma¬ 
ryland, and in relation to the Potomac, pronounces, that from the combined 
effects of floods, breaches, repairs, drought, and cold, the average duration 
of the navigation of a canal, in our climate ,, is reduced to about one-half of 
the year?” And, again: “Does any man believe that the Potomac river will 
not supply an adequate quantity of water, &c. ?” 

We will, however, now assert our opinion that a canal across the Alle- 
ghanies would be liable to the evil effects of all the causes here enumerated, 
whilst the injurious consequences of most of them would be felt along the 
Potomac. 

We see no cause to change our opinions, as then expressed, with regard 


175 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

to the relative merits of canals and railways. Public opinion and public inter¬ 
est will settle the question in due time, and we rest assured, that, at the same 
time that it is the tribunal of last resort, the decision will be just. 

Repairs. 

With regard to the cost of repairs upon railways, much has been advanced 
in the voluminous document now before us, and an estimate has been given 
(p. 170) amounting to $983 perannum per mile of double track. This 
estimate is alleged to be founded on the experience upon the Mauch Chunk 
railway, already described, and has been, it appears, preferred by the su¬ 
perintendent of that road, in a controversial essay, in an answer to John L. 
Sullivan, civil engineer, who advocated the superiority of railroads over ca¬ 
nals. 

The next estimate presented is stated in an <l extract of a letter from John 
Bolton, esq., of New York, late President of the Hudson and Delaware 
Canal Company, to the President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com¬ 
pany, dated, New York, December 17th, 1831.” (See Doc. No. 18, p. 176.) 

In this extract, it is stated that the repairs of the Delaware and Hudson 
railroad were estimated, for the year 1831, “at rather more than $1,500 per 
mile: that the railroad has eight inclined planes; five worked by steam en¬ 
gines, and three by gravity.” 

It is, however, not stated in the “ extract” from the letter of the late Pre¬ 
sident of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, nor is it intimated in 
the wide amplitude of materials which compose Doc. No. 18, in what par¬ 
ticular manner this railroad was constructed. Having, in person, examin¬ 
ed this railroad, throughout its entire extent, more than oncd, we deem it our 
duty, on this occasion, to state that, through the greater part of the 16 miles 
(which is the whole length of the road,) the railway is mounted upon wooden 
bridges or trussel work, in lieu of embankments of earth. This frame work 
is employed upon all the grades of the road, from a level to inclinations of 
1 in 12 or4f degrees, and varies in height, from the ground to the railway, 
from 2 or 3 feet up to 20, 30, and even to 35, feet! It is very serpentine,and 
is much curved even in parts where the trussels are quite high. Notwith¬ 
standing these frail structures were resorted to in places where the grade of 
the road passed above the broken surface of the ground, which it was made to 
do on most of the line, and therefore rendering the procurement of earth, 
for the supply of embankment, unnecessar} r ; yet the abruptness and uneven¬ 
ness of the surface was such that cuts of considerable length and depth, es¬ 
pecially in graduating for the planes, had to be made, and as if a preference 
over embankments had been awarded to these wooden structures, on account 
of some intrinsic merit which they were supposed to possess, the earth, from 
the excavations, w r as not hauled forth upon the descending grade to make 
permanent embankments for the support of the railway; but, on the contra¬ 
ry, it was thrown out in spoil banks, and, in some instances, with additional 
expense. 

The railroad passing through a dense beech and hemlock forest, these two 
kinds of inferior timber, but the latter in much the greater proportion, en¬ 
ter largely into the composition of the structures which form the work. In 
parts of the way, the superstructure is made to rest upon posts planted in the 
ground, and these posts were not unfrequently of beech. The kind of tim- 


176 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ber most convenient to the site of the road was generally employed in the 
construction. 

After this manner, was this railway, from Carbondale to Honesdale, 
constructed, 16 miles in length across the Moosic mountain, with eight in¬ 
clined planes, all furnished with machinery, including a length of more than 
3£ miles of rope, and 5 stationary steam engines, for the sum of about 
$ 200 , 000 . 

The original design was to use locomotive engines on those parts not 
covered by the system of inclined planes, that is, on more than half the dis¬ 
tance next to Honsedale at the commencement of the canal. 

It was predicted, however, and verified upon trial, that so frail a mode of 
structure would not admit of the employment of those engines, and the al¬ 
ternative was adopted, of using horses instead. To provide, however, for 
this change, a horse path of wood had to be laid upon the frame work 
throughout—thus greatly adding to the expense of construction as well as of 
repairs. 

It is presumed that the bare mention of these facts will sufficiently account 
for the estimate of $1,500 per annum per mile, as the probable expenses of 
repairs for the year 1831. Indeed, when it is considered to what extent in 
height and length these perishable frames have been employed, and how 
very temporary and frail the structures made in this manner, and of such 
wood, must necessarily be, and what extent of flooring for the horses to 
walk upon, remains constantly exposed to the weather, and to the action of 
the travel, and that the repairs of 3$ miles of rope, together with the machi- 
nary and fixtures appurtenant to the planes, must be met, the surprise, if 
any, should rather be, that the amount required was not greater. 

Nor is it to be wondered at that the retiring President, when judging from 
the only examples w’ith which he was probably familiar, to wit, the railway 
at Mauch Chunk, and the one which had shared so largely of his enterprise 
and public spirit, should assign to the advantages of the railway system a 
place between those of turnpike roads and canals, or look upon the public 
favor, which is beginning to be put forth in behalf of that system, as a 
mania . (See Doc. No. 118, p. 177.) 

We have made an estimate of the probable amount necessary for the an¬ 
nual repairs and renewals of a mile of double railway of good construction, 
when sleepers of wood, and string-pieces likewise of wood, shall be em¬ 
ployed to support the iron bars or rails of the railway, and find the sum 
necessary for the object to be about $500. It is believed that the price 
allowed will procure timber that will last twelve years. Some think that 
southern pine will last beyond the period here assigned. It may be so. 
Hut it is conceived that, in the absence of more experience, it may be ju¬ 
dicious to assume this period for timber that can be procured for twenty 
dollars per thousand, board measure. If locust or red cedar shall be used, 
the repairs will be diminished to some extent. 

For information with regard to the probable duration of wheels and 
maleable iron rails, we have compiled a short document, and annex it for 
reference. It is marked No. 4. 

For our estimate of the probable annual repairs of a mile of double rail¬ 
road, when wood instead of stone shall be used in the construction of the 
railway—see document No. 5, hereto annexed. 

With stone sills employed in the construction, the railway will be form¬ 
ed exclusively of stone and iron, of which two materials, the iron alone will 


177 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

be subject to loss, from wear and decay; in which case, the construction 
having been properly executed, the annual repairs of one mile cannot, we 
think, exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. 

As we intimated, with regard to the cost of transportation, so do we say 
with respect to that of repairs; which will depend upon vigilance, and a 
judicious direction of means to the end to be attained; and it should never 
be lost sight of, that much will likewise depend upon the location and con¬ 
struction of the railroad. 

Repairs of Canals. 

The superintendent at Mauch Chunk, after having concluded his es¬ 
timate for the repairs of a double railway, as already alluded to, next pro* 
ceeds to estimate the “ wear and tear of the canal” upon the line from 
Mauch Chunk to Bristol; length 106 miles; fall 524 feet; number of locks 
66; lift, 8 feet. 

It is assumed that each set of lock gates will cost $500, and that they 
must be renewed every ten years. The cost of 66 sets of gates will be 
$33,000; and the tenth of this, or $3,300, is taken as the annual cost, 
which, being divided by 106, the number of miles, there results $3l T l 0 2 0 as 
the cost per annum per mile of this item. See document No. 18, p. 171. 

It is next assumed that, u after eight years’ duration,” one man working 
250 days in the year, at $1 per day, will keep in repair an average length 
of two miles through the whole line from Mauch Chunk to Bristol; and 
the second, and last item of expense, is calculated to be $125 per mile. 

The two items will, therefore, stand as follows: 

Repairing lock gates per mile - $31 12 

Other labor - - - - - 125 00 


Amounting to - 156 12 

And thus the expense of repairs per annum per mile upon the Lehigh 
canal, extending down the Lehigh from Manch Chunk to the Delaware 
river, at Easton, about 46 miles; and that upon the Delaware division of 
the Pennsylvania canal, extending thence along the margin of the Delaware 
to Bristol, 60 miles more, in all 106 miles, is estimated at $156 T 1 0 2 0 . 

Without calling in question the adequacy of the sum allowed for the 
repairs of a set of lock gates in ten years, to wit, $500, it is believed that 
the allowance of $125 would not do more than maintain the towing path in 
a state of repair, open ditches, drains, and culverts, and keep the banks in 
good condition. We can, however, conceive of other items of expense, 
which will as certainly have to be met, as will those two which have been 
admitted into the foregoing estimate. In an estimate for the repairs of the 
Lehigh canal, something might have been allowed for renewing the lining 
of the lock chambers, which is of wood. The locks are built of rubble, 
laid in hydraulic cement, with frames of timber secured in the face of the 
walls, to which the planks are fastened that form the lining. A good lock 
is constructed after this manner, probably at an expense of some g400 per 
foot lift less than with cut stone. As this form of construction has not 
generally been employed, and although the repairs contingent upon it 
could not be disregarded in a full estimate for this particular canal, yet we 
shall also omit to assign its amount, inasmuch as it is our aim to approxi¬ 
mate to that which will be found generally to obtain with regard to the 
repairs of canals. 

23 



178 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

There is another item to be provided for, which, if it has not already oc- 
cured on this canal, will doubtless command attention before the termina¬ 
tion of the t( eight years,” the period which seems to have been fixed upon 
in the foregoing estimate, during which the embankments shall have sub¬ 
sided, and all “ the extraordinary repairs” consequent upon latent defects 
which could alone be detected after the admission of water into the canal, 
or such as are inseparable from the necessary weakness of all new works of 
this description. The item just alluded to, is an allowance for cleaning out 
the canal after the lodgment within it of sediment, consisting of alluvial 
deposite, and sand gravel and clay that shall, from time to time, be brought 
from the adjacent farm lands, and from feeders and streams admitted to 
discharge their contents into the canal; and likewise from the overflowing 
of ditches and drains during freshets and heavy rains; and, also, from the 
washing of the banks. 

We profess not to know what amount of materials will annually accumu¬ 
late in the canal from these causes^ut we think, even under good manage¬ 
ment, it will be quite favorable to the canal to assume an average quantity 
equivalent to a uniform depth of two inches per annum upon the bottom of 
the canal; and that, in every six years, if not in shorter periods, materials 
amounting to a foot in depth will have to be removed. 

Supposing the canal to be 40 feet wide at bottom, the number of cubic 
yards in the mass to be removed per mile, at the end of every period of six 
years, will be 7,822; and, considering the diagreeable nature of the work, 
it could not well be expected to be done for less than 20 cents a cubic yard, 
or per mile gl,564, and the annuity to raise the amount in six years at 
5 per cent., will be $230, the annual allowance for this item of expense. 

If it should be alleged that many miles of the navigation may consist (as 
on the Lehigh and the Conemaugh) of slack water, procured by the erection 
of dams across the river, and the construction of a towing path along its 
margin, and other contingent Works directed to this end, we say it appears 
to us but too probable that the encroachments of the water, drift, and ice, in 
freshets upon the channel, which must be kept clear for the passage of the 
boats, and upon the towing path, together with the deposites of mountain tor¬ 
rents putting into the river from that side, will, without any allowance for 
the repairs of the dams, be amply sufficient to exhaust that small amount. 

An allowance should likewise be made, adequate to the insurance of the 
perpetuity of dams destined to form reservoirs, slack water, or for the di¬ 
rection of water into feeders, and the repair of the guard locks attached to 
them, as well as of the feeders. All canals have more or less of the works 
here named: some are more costly in their dams, some in their feeders, and 
others in their reservoirs; whilst some will be heavily burthened with a plu¬ 
rality, or even with the whole of these classes of works. What shall we 
assume for an average? Extended periods of duration, and the whole canal 
system, should here be averaged, commencing l< eight years” after the intro¬ 
duction of the navigation, so as not to include the “extraordinary repairs” 
already alluded to, as being liable to happen within that term. 

It will probably be a moderate estimate’ to assume the cost of these ap¬ 
pendages at 10 per cent, of the entire outlay, and that, “ barring accidents,” 
the dams will last 20 years, but, in consequence of their exposed situation, 
the probability would be that, upon an average, they would have to be re¬ 
newed every 12 years, or, that the expenses attendant upon them, would be 
barely covered by this assumption. 


179 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

We shall assume $1,500 per mile as a medium sum to he provided in 
periods of 12 years for the amount of these charges, which will be rather 
more than ten per cent, of the entire outlay upon the least costly canals, 
whilst it will be less than 5 per cent, upon some others, and the cost per mile 
per annum of these appurtenances will be $94. 

The next permanent source of expense peculiar to the canal system, that 
we shall mention, is that of the maintenance of waste weir, and the towing 
path across them. Wood as well as stone will generally enter, more or less, 
into the construction of the weir, and perhaps altogether into that of the 
bridge constituting the towing path over it. There will, generally, be one 
of these structures to each level or pool, but, if the level be long, more than 
one. We assume $125 per mile as the least amount for this item to be 
expended every 12 years, which is equivalent to about $S per annum per mile. 

The difference that will be found to exist in the cost of maintaining accom¬ 
modation and road bridges across canals, beyond that which will be neces¬ 
sary across railroads, should not be excluded in the comparison. The facili¬ 
ties of passing across railways upon a level with their surface, both as re¬ 
spects private and public roads, are so great, that it-may be said the railway 
offers scarcely any obstruction, and bridges, for this purpose, will seldom be 
required; whereas, upon canals, such bridges constitute a considerable item 
in the expenditures. Sometimes, however, the proprietor of the lands 
through which the canal passes, is paid a sum that disposes him to relinquish 
his claim to an accommodation bridge; but still the capital invested is en¬ 
hanced in amount by that sum. Many farms, andall public roads that are to 
be kept up, and which the canal intersects, must have bridges over the canal. 

We shall, for the present occasion, only assume that an outlay of $1,000 
every 12 jears, to sustain wooden bridges on three miles of canal, as the 
average of the excess beyond that required for similar expenditures in the 
railway system. This will equal $63 per annum, or $21 per mile per annum. 

Supposing $500 to be required at the end of each term of ten years to 
sustain a set of lock-gates, we should estimate the cost of 66 sets, on 106 
miles of canal, at $25 per annum per mile, and not $31 12 as calculated on 
page 171, Doc. No. 18, since an annuity of $3112 regularly invested with the 
annual incomes in 5 per cent, stocks, would, at the end of ten years, when 
the money would be wanted, amount to $43,566, instead of $33,000, the 
sum assumed in the estimate for this item, as required upon the whole line of 
the canal. And it may here be remarked, that the estimates for the annual 
cost of a line of double railway, preferred in Document No. 18, p. 169-70, 
have been unduly swelled by adopting the same mode of calculation. 

We shall here recapitulate the several items of expenditure per annum 
per mile, upon a canal, to the extent already calculated, with an allowance 
for superintendence and contingencies to the same amount as on the railway. 


1. Repairing lock gates ----- $25 

2. Incidental attention and labor upon the banks, tow-paths, 

ditches, drains, and culverts - 125 

3. Cleaning the canal of sediment, sand, gravel, and clay • 230 

4. Repairing dams, feeders, and guard locks - - 94 

5. Maintenance of waste weirs, and towpath over them - 8 

6. Renewing of bridges beyond that required on a railroad - 21 

7. Superintendence and contingencies - - - - 25 


Amounting to - - $528 





180 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

From an examination of the foregoing estimate, it will doubtless be no¬ 
ticed that we have not set down any thing to cover the contingency of a 
failure in walls, culverts, or aqueducts. To apologize for this omission, it 
may likewise be stated that, in making our estimate for the annual repairs 
upon the railway, we neither included walls, culverts, nor viaducts. These 
works were supposed to be well contructed in both cases. Had we entered 
upon the inquiry touching these structures, however, we should have been 
compelled to have awarded a balance in this respect against the canal system. 

It is unnecessary, therefore, to look beyond the items of expense already 
enumerated, to see that the annual expenses attendant upon the repairs of a 
canal, may be expected to exceed those of a double railroad, even though 
wood, in lieu of stone, shall be used in the construction of the railway. [See 
doc. No. 5, hereto annexed, and already referred to.] 

But the sum of S52S, the amount of the foregoing estimate, does not in¬ 
clude the whole of the yearly charge due to the maintenance of a mile of 
canal. It is the amount estimated to be required after the canal shall have 
been 8 years in use. It does not embrace any allowance for the “extraor¬ 
dinary repairs” which all new works of this description will certainly re¬ 
quire, and which are supposed to cease within that term of years, in conse¬ 
quence of the acquired comparative permanency of the embankments. The 
great amount of “extraordinary repairs” and expenses to which a canal is 
subject when it is new, and, as a consequence, the length of time that elapses 
after it is declared to be finished, taken off the hands of the contractor and 
paid for, before it can be profitably used, will continue to be a peculiar 
characteristic belonging to this species of internal improvement, that should 
be brought into the account when a comparison is to be instituted between 
the relative merits of canals and railways, inasmuch as the latter are com¬ 
paratively free from such expenses, and can be used, without delay, as soon 
as the rajls shall be laid. 

The experience of the canal system will not permit us to fix upon less 
than one year as the time that may be expected to elapse, after a canal is de¬ 
clared to be finished and is paid for, until its navigation becomes advanta¬ 
geous. This conclusion is corroborated by the instances which have occur¬ 
red on the Pennsylvania canals, without looking further. See Report 
Pennsylvania Canal Commissioners, December 15, 1831. 

The estimate stated on page 171, Doc. No. 18, for the annual repairs of 
the canals from Mauch Chunk to Bristol, and amounting to $! 56 12 per mile, 
as we have already stated, was made in the month of May, 1830. The cal¬ 
culator prudentially avoided swelling his estimate by the repairs that might 
take place during the first eight years. This estimate embraced 59f miles 
of canal along the Delaware, then in the course of construction by the State, 
but which was that season pronounced to be completed, and the water in¬ 
troduced in October of that year (1830.) This canal, however, has not yet' 
been brought into profitable use, on account of the extensive repairs which 
had to be made during the year 1831, and amounting to $97,339 51, or 
$1,629 per mile. 

The repairs during the year 1831 upon the following canals in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, viz. The Delaware division, (just mentioned,) Columbia line of the 
eastern division, Harrisburg line, including the Susquehanna, to lock 
at Barry’s falls, North Branch division, West Branch division; Juniata di¬ 
vision,Western division, and French creek feeder, being, ir. the whole 426£ 
miles of canal, amounted to $353,644 58, or $830 per mile. (See Canal 


1S1 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Commissioners’ report aforesaid.) And there has been at least a year lost 
in the use of these canals on account of the “ untoward circumstances” 
attendant upon them. It is stated that this amount contains, besides the 
cost of <£ ordinary and extraordinary repairs,” an allowance “ for additional 
structures to render them [the canals] more perfect,” but what, this amount 
may be is not stated, nor is it material, since, as the imperfections were not 
foreseen, they could only be met and provided for in the repairs. 

We will not take the result upon any one of these divisions of canal as 
an index of what may be expected to befal other canals; yet we think that 
an average upon 426 miles of canalling, situated in different and distant sec¬ 
tions of the Commonwealth, should be regarded as data in completing the 
comparative estimates commenced in Doc. No. IS, but not finished , as we 
have shown. 

Assuming, for the present occasion, the average cost of canals and their 
appurtenant works at $25,000 per mile, and seeing that their useful effects 
will, in general, be postponed a year after the time of their completion, it 
follows that the additional sum of $1,500, being the interest for a year, will 
be added to the capital, the interest of which, that is, $90, must therefore 
be provided for annually thereafter, and it may be considered as augment¬ 
ing the annual repairs, inasmuch as it will originate in consequence of the 
canal requiring repairs. 

It will next be proper to assign the amount of “ ordinary” and “ extra¬ 
ordinary repairs,” that is, to determine how much of the $830 per mile, 
incurred in the repairs of 1831, was made up of the kind of repairs that 
are included in the seven items of the estimate which we have already made, 
(amounting to $528,) and the residue which will then be lacking to make 
up $830, will be for “ extraordinary repairs” that will not occur after 
■some years. 

The canals being new, item No. 1, being for repairs of lock gates, will 
be nothing; No. 2 will be the full amount, $125; No. 3 will be nothing , 
since there has not been time for much alluvial deposite; No. 4, consisting 
of the repair of dams, &c., may probably have occurred to the extent of 
three-fourths of the amount of a permanent estimate, or $70; Nos. 5 and 
6 nothing , for want of time for decay; No. 7 the full amount, $25. These 
items, being collected, make $220 as the probable amount per mile of the 
« ordinary” repairs, not consequent upon the weakness or defectiveness of 
new works of this description. 

Consequently, $S30, minus 8220, leaves $610 as the amount per mile of 
the “ extraordinary repairs” on these 426^ miles of canal, in the year 1831. 

On reference to the Canal Commissioners’ report before referred to, page 
22, (as printed by order of the Senate,) it will appear, that, of the sum of 
$353,644 58, the total amount of repairs, the Canal Commissioners assign 
$92,703 84 for “ ordinary,” and $260,935 14 for “ extraordinary repairs,” 
which result in $218, and $612, per mile, respectively. It will be seen 
that the allotment of $220, and $610, which we have just given, differs 
very little from that made by the Canal Commissioners. 

Now, when it is considered that 195 miles of these canals were reported 
by the Canal Commissioners, on the 18th December, 1S29, as finished, and 
therefore that nearly one-half of the entire extent had the advantage of the 
whole of the year 1S30 to consolidate, it will be inferred that $610 per 
mile is* hot enough to cover the extraordinary repairs of the first year, in¬ 
asmuch as it is to be presumed that the benefits of the repairs made in 1830 


182 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

were effective in 1S31, as limiting in degree the amount for that year. 
We shall, however, in this comparative estimate take these repairs at $610 
for the first year and, instead of the apparently arbitrary assumption made 
on page 171, Doc. No. 18, that this description of repairs will extend through 
the term of “ 8 years’ duration,” shall limit them to 5 years, presuming that, 
during this period, the subsiding and consolidating of the parts will have 
been effected, or, at least, to such an extent, that the decreasing series of ex¬ 
penditures on this head will be covered in the respective years by 610, 488, 
366, and 122 dollars. Discounting at 5 per cent, compound interest, the 
present worth of this series of payments is $1,638. 

The interest of this sum at 6 per cent, per annum, or $9S, will therefore 
be the perpetual annual charge estimated to flow from these “ extraordinary 
repairs.” 

And the estimate for the amount of the repairs of a canal per mile, per 
annum, will finally be— 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Items herein before estimated, and to accrue after 
due permanency is acquired, ----- 528 

8. Interest of interest, accruing from delay in commencing profitable 

use, - - - -* - * -90 

9. Interest on present worth of extraordinary repairs made in the 

first few years, - - - - - -98 


Amounting to ------- $716 


The capital at first expended will be augmented by one year’s inte¬ 
rest from the delay of the profitable use, beyond that to which 
railways are subject, by - - - - - 1,500 

It will also be augmented by the extraordinary repairs to which the 
canal is subject in the first few years, beyond those of the railroad, 
by - - - - - - - - 1,638 


Total, - - - - - - - -$3,138 


Hence if the construction when the canal is considered to be “ finished,” 
be $25,000 per mile, then the annual repairs per mile will be estimated at 
$716. 

But should it be preferred to augment the capital by the beforementioned 
items, amounting to $3,138, then the capital per mile will be $28,13S, and 
the repairs of canal, per annum, per mile, will be estimated at $52S. 

We can readily account, therefore, for the circumstance that the canals 
of New York which, when they were declared to be “ finished,” had cost 
only at the rate of $18,000 per mile, should, in the course of a very few 
years after, have been stated to have cost $21,000 per mile. For this pur¬ 
pose we have only to suppose the $3,138, or rather $2,718, (as the first cost 
was $1S,000 instead of $25,COO per mile,) to have been further augmented 
to £3,000 by interests which the current tolls did not pay, or otherwise 
by greater repairs than are measured by the average we have adopted. 

Having, in a concise and candid manner, endeavored to present such 
views of the subjects treated of as the present time and opportunity would 
allow, we shall annex a reference to the following additional papers,.annex¬ 
ed hereto, and marked as follows: 








183 




[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


No. 6. An abstract prepared by Wm. Woodville, superintendent of 
transportation on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, containing an account 
of the number of passengers and tons of commodoties which were convey¬ 
ed on that road, from the 1st of January to the 25th of February, both 
days inclusive, 1S32, and tending to show not only the advantages to trade 
and intercourse to this particular road in the depth of a severe winter, when 
canal navigation was closed, but the great advantages which may be expect¬ 
ed from the adoption of the railway system. 

No. 7. An extract from an account of the Liverpool and Manchester 
railway, by Henry Booth, treasurer, Liverpool; republished by Carey & 
Lea, Philadelphia, 1831, containing “ a general abstract” of the expendi¬ 
tures in the construction of that stupendous work, with “ observations” 
thereon. 

Frequent reference having been made, in Doc. No. 18, to the great cost 
of this road, without any allusion to the items and attendant circumstances, 
we have though it but just to annex them, and, at the same time, to protest 
against the endeavors which have been made, apparently to induce an im¬ 
pression of their inapplicability to this country. It is to be presumed, that, 
in the absence of special information, it would not be imagined that it could 
become necessary to pay £95,305 sterling, for land on about 30 miles of the 
route of a railway, or $14,000 per mile, independent of the land and build¬ 
ings purchased at the two ends of the road, costing a further sum of $6,000 
■per mile. The expense incurred in obtaining a charter from Parliament, 
and for law, was £28,465, or about $4,000 per mile, yet such were the facts. 
Notwithstanding the enormous cost of this road, however, the dividends 
have been 4 5 per cent, on the par value of the shares for each six months 
of the year 1831, or at the rate of 9 per cent, per annum; and it is said 
that the dividends could have been still greater, but for the reservation of a 
surplus with a view of forming b. second tunnel under the town of Liver¬ 
pool, at an estimated cost of £100,000. 

Further observations in relation to the comparative merits of Canals 

and Railroads. 

If it should be alleged that we have not been sufficiently definite in rela¬ 
tion to the cost of construction, we would answer that, if our essay is liable 
to this charge, it is so, not from the want of the will to do ample justice to 
the subject, but rather from the absence of a sufficient number of examples 
in a new system of improvement scarcely yet introduced into the country. 

We will, however, now offer our opinions a little more at length in rela¬ 
tion to the cost of construction, having regard to the examples which we 
have, and to the facilities which we believe to exist. 

The cost of a single tract of railway, laid with the use of sleepers and 
strong pieces of wood, the sleepers being 4 feet apart, and bedded upon 
broken stone, the dimensions and cost of the wood and ironj being as in the 
estimate in the accompanying document No. 5, was, on the first division of 
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, about $4,000 per mile, inclusive of the 
broken stone, labor, and contingencies. For the renewing of the perisha¬ 
ble part of this structure, we have already furnished an estimate. It may 
be proper to say that, upon some of the divisions, the wood railway has cosf 
more than upon the first division, owing, principally, to working too late in 
the season; to giving more than an average price for some of the materials 


184 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

and labor, on emergencies; and to hauling some of the materials greater dis¬ 
tances on the turnpike road than would have been necessary, but for a de¬ 
termination to open the road by a specified time. We are of opinion, 
therefore, that the average cost of such a railway in this country, may beset 
down at $8,000 per mile, since, in the interior, where wood is cheaper, the 
iron will be more costly. Such a railway would not only be suited to the 
use of horses as the motive power, but would likewise admit the use of light 
locomotive steam engines for the conveyance of passengers, moving within 
the following limits of velocity, that is to say: not exceeding ten miles per 
hour in curvatures of a radius of 1,000 feet or less, nor exceeding 15 miles 
per hour on the curved parts of the way, having a radius greater than 1,000 
feet and less than 2,000 feet, and upon the straight parts; and on the curved 
parts having a radius greater than 2,000 feet, a velocity of from 15 to 20 
miles per hour. It will be practicable, therefore, as much the greater part 
of the curvatures of a railway from Baltimore to the Ohio, may have a ra¬ 
dius greater than 1,000 feet, to carry passengers at an average rate of 15 
miles per hour, with the use of the locomotive engine; in which case the 
entire distance may be performed within 24 hours! With the use of horses 
as the moving power, the route to the Ohio would be performed in about 
40 hours. The inclined planes across the Alleghany mountain would be 
worked with stationary steam engines at the rate of 10 miles per hour. 

We have just given S 8,000 as the average cost per mile of a double rail¬ 
way, upon which these performances may be made. It will now be proper 
to assign the probable average cost per mile of preparing the line for the re¬ 
ception of the railway. This will include the graduation and masonry; and 
we shall suppose the culverts and bridges to be of stone, with the exception 
of bridges over large streams, which may be of wood. 

We shall suppose that few lines in this country of equal length will cost 
more than that part of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad from Ellicott’s mills 
to the Potomac, a distance of 5miles. The cost of preparing this part 
of the line of that road, amounted to the average sum of $8,540 per mile. 
About 20 miles of this distance is in the granite reformation, the gradua¬ 
tion of which, was rendered very expensive on account of the large mass¬ 
es of that material which had to be removed by blasting, whilst thorough 
cuts through projecting points of hills, 20, 30, and 40 feet in depth, had to be 
made, and new and extensive channels for the stream which occupied the 
narrow ravine formed; whilst the road was made to intersect and traverse 
the old channel in order to secure the proper curvature and direction. Up¬ 
on the residue of the line, the excavations and embankments were heavy 
items, and included the graduation of four inclined planes at Parr’s ridge. 
The quantity of masonry is likewise fully as great upon this line, as will be 
an average on most lines of equal length in this country. The work upon 
a large part of this line, was carried on with greater speed than comported 
with economy in the construction, in order that the road should be open for 
use to Frederick at the commencement of the winter. The last let ting for 
graduation and masonry which was made, took place in June last, (1831,) 
to the extent of twelve miles including the planes at Parr’s ridge, and the 
work did not fairly commence under this letting till after wheat harvest; 
yet with such energy was the work prosecuted, that a track of railway was 
completed to Frederick by the 1st of December last, at which time the road 
was formally opened and travelled from Baltimore to Frederick. On the 
twelve miles so quickly finished, the quantity of earth and slate rock re- 



185 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

moved, in the formation of the road bed, averaged about 25,000 cubic yards 
to the mile, whilst the wages of laborers were enhanced from 75 to 100 
cents per day. 

These facts are stated to show that this part of the road cost more than 
an average amount for the same quantity and description of work under or¬ 
dinary circumstances; at the same time they also demonstrate with what ce¬ 
lerity a railway can be constructed. 

As we proceed westward, the p-rice of provisions and labor will become 
less. The reduction will probably amount to 25 per cent, by the time we 
arrive west of the Alleghany mountain. The rock to be encountered there 
will be principally freestone and other softer species of sand stone; the 
removing of which, will not be more than half as expensive as that on the 
Patapsco. For the same reason, the masonry will also cost much less. Un¬ 
der these views, it is highly probable that the same quantity in cubic yards 
of excavation and embankment, and the same quantity and extent of mason¬ 
ry and bridges that, between Ellicott’s mills and the Point of Rocks, cost 
$ 8,540 per mile, would, west of the Alleghany, cost no more than $ 6,000. 
Adding the cost of a double railway laid with wood asbelore described, and 
the estimated cost of a double railroad per mile will be, 

East of the Alleghany mountains - - - - $ 16,540 

West of do. do. - - - - 14,000 

And, in a comparatively level part of the western country, where 
timber is abundant, and to be used for the principal bridges, 
about ------- {511,000 

We shall now augment the prime cost of the railroad by a sum, which, 
we think, will be sufficient to compensate for restoring the embankments to 
their proper heights after settling, and for the removal of slips in the exca¬ 
vations. These will constitute Ihe “ extraordinary repairs” of the railroad, 
and will cease in a few years. Having endeavored to estimate this descrip¬ 
tion of repairs for a canal, and at a rate that should only show the excess 
against the canal when compared with the railroad, it was not considered 
necessary, under that view of the subject, to estimate the extraordinary re¬ 
pairs to which a railroad is subject in its new state, from a want of solidity 
in its embankments. It is very evident that this description of repairs for 
a canal, will be greatly in excess; since, in the formation of the canal, on ac¬ 
count of its greater width, and the depth below the berm, the excavations 
must be deeper than for the railroad, and the excavated banks in sidelong 
situations mUih higher. And, moreover, a slip of earth from the bank, af¬ 
ter having fallen into the canal, will be much more expensive to remove 
from thence, than it would be to remove an equal quantity from the surface 
of the railroad. And, again, when a breach in the bank of a canal takes 
place, all the w r ater upon that level to the nearest lock, each way, rushes 
through the breach, and, by enlarging it, cuts the embankment to its foun¬ 
dation, depositing the excavated materials in the bordering river, or, perhaps, 
upon the adjacent farm lands, to the damage of the proprietor; whereas 
no such breaches or devastations can be charged to the account of the rail¬ 
road system. 

The charge for the restoration of the embankments to the extent of their 
settling, as respects the railroad, can be estimated quite readily, as we know 
it, from experience, to be about 10 per cent., in case the embankment is of 
ordinary earth, and has been properly made. 

Now we have supposed 25,000 cubic yards as about the average quantity 
24 


1S6 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 


of embankment entering into the formation of a mile of railroad, one-tenth 
part of which may be considered to be of rock or of such consistency as not 
to decrease in volume; and there will remain 22,500 cubic yards, 10 per cent, 
of which, or 2,250 yards, have to be supplied, to counteract the effects of 
settling of each mile of the railroad. Eastward of the mountains, the cost 
of this removal may be taken at 25 cents per cubic yard, and westward at 
20 cents. And, therefore, the allowance for this item will be, in the east, 
$563, and, in the west, $450. The greater part, and, in some instances, 
the whole of the earth required to raise the embankment to its requisite 
height, and from which it had receded, will be supplied from the redundant 
earth removed from the ditches in the cuts, at the prices stated. But as this 
may not happen in every instance, whilst, in places, more earth will have 
to be removed from the cuts than the repairing of the contiguous embank¬ 
ments will require, it may be proper to add 20 per cent., to cover the 
expense to arise from that difference, together with $160 in the one case, 
and $12S in the other, for adjusting the railway to the proper level at the 
same time that the embankments are raised. 

The ‘‘extraordinary repairs’’ for each mile of a railway will, therefore, 
average $835 eastward, and $668 westward of the mountains. Supposing 
these repairs to take place proportionally, and in the same period as those 
upon the canal, and discounting for present money, these sums become $748 
and $598 respectively, and the cost of construction will be further charged 
with these respective sums; or, otherwise, $45 in the one case, and $36 in 
the other, being the annual interests, will be set down as repairs per annum 
per mile. At present, we shall add these costs to the prime cost of con¬ 
struction in the two first stated cases; and, on account of the greater supposed 
favorableness of the country in the third case, we shall add to it only $500. 

The cost of a mile of double railway, laid with the use of wood to support 
the rails, will, therefore, ultimately be, 

1. Eastward of the Alleghany mountain, - $17,28S 

2. Westward of do - 14,59S 

3. Westward of do and in the more level 

parts, where timber is abundant, - 11,500 

We now assert our opinion, that the average prime cost attendant upon 
the construction of canals and their appendages, upon grounds of similar na¬ 
tural formation, judging from what is understood to be the experience in 
this country, will, with but a medium number of locks and aqueducts built 
of cut stone, and no very expensive reservoirs, be as follows: 

1. Eastward of the Alleghany mountain, ... $25,000 

2. Westward of do ----- 20,000 

3. Westward cf do and in the more level and 

favorable parts, ------ 12,000 

Upon the western section of the route of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, 
extending from Cumberland to Pittsburg, a distance of 153 miles and -JJ 
of a mile, the <K>st of construction, as estimated by N. S. Roberts and A. 
Cruger, engineers, with a width of 48 feet, and depth of 5 feet for the canal, 
is 850,347 per mile. (See Doc. No. IS, page 126.) We feel confident 
that a double railway, upon the same route, would not cost the half of this 
amount per mile. 

It is believed that the experience of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 
in relation to canals only 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep, will justify the as¬ 
sumption of these amounts; as it is probable that the canals constructed east 


187 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

of the Alleghany, by the State of Pennsylvania, inclusive of dams, aqueducts, 
and basins, will have cost the rate here assigned, and it must be recollected 
that great reaches of the New York Erie canal occupy as favorable ground 
as do the canals of the State of Ohio, whilst provisions and labor were abun¬ 
dant and cheap. It must likewise be considered that, in the more recent 
formation of works of internal improvement, the competition, and, conse¬ 
quently, the cost, has been, and will probably continue to be, greater than 
when New York constructed her magnificent canals. 

We have already endeavored to show that, upon an average, the ultimate 
cost of a mile of canal will exceed the cost when it is first declared to be 
€t finished ,” by $3,138; and we gave our opinion that this would not be 
the absolute excess, but only the relative when compared with railroads. 

Taking it, however, to be the absolute instead of the relative excess of 
the cost of a mile of a canal, when its embankments shall have become con¬ 
solidated through time, beyond that of its first cost, and supposing the less 
cost of the canals in Ohio to require but the one-half of this allowance, with¬ 
out making any allowance for a western canal connected with the mountain 
region, since the damages upon the western division of the Pennsylvania 
canal, in consequence of freshets, have already, during the present winter 
been almost as great in amount as the reported repairs upon that division, 
which were made during the year 1 S31, then the relative cost of canals and 
railroads, such as we have described, will be as in the following table: 


No. 

Situation. 

Railroad 
per mile 

Canal 
per mile. 

1 

Eastward of the Alleghany mountain, 

17,2SS 

828,13S 

2 

Westward of do 

14,59S 

23,128 

3 

Westward of do and when 




the facilities for construction are greater, 

11,500 

13,569 


We have already estimated the annual repairs of this description of rail¬ 
roads at $500 per mile, and of a canal that should be compared with it, $528 
per mile. Adding the annual interest on the cost of a mile according to No. 
1 of the foregoing table, and find the annual charge that is to govern the toll 
upon the' railroad to be $1,537 2S, and upon the canal $2,216 28. With a 
traffic amounting to 100,000 tons per annum, the toll necessary to repay 
these respective charges would be, upon the railway, 1 cents P er lon 
per mile, and upon the canal 2 cents. Taking the cost of transporta¬ 

tion per ton per mile upon the railway at 1 of a cent, as we have estimated 
it, and upon the canal at \ of a cent, as some have estimated it to be on spa¬ 
cious canals, then the cost of both toll and transportation on the railway will 
appear to be 2 2S7-1000 cents per ton per mile, and upon the canal 2 716-1000 
cents. 

When 150,000 tons of commodities shall pass in a year, then the toll and 
transportation upon the railway will be l 775-1000 cents per ton per mile, 
and upon the canal 1 977-1000 cents; but when 271,600 tons shall be the 
amount of trade, then the cost of toll and transportation will be the same on 
either, to wit: 1 316-1000 cents per ton per mile; and when the quantity of 
tonnage shall be greater than is here mentioned, then the entire cost of tran- 











1SS 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

sit will be something less upon the canal than on the railroad. It will how¬ 
ever occur only on great lines of intercommunication that even so large an 
amount of traffic as 150,000 tons per annum shall pass upon either a canal or 
a railway. 

In the case of No. 2, the amount of annual tonnage that will be conveyed 
at an equal expense, both on the railway and the canal, is 216,160 tons; 
whilst, in the case of No. 3, it is only 100,S56 tons; from which last we 
conclude that, in Ohio or any other place where the cost of a canal will aver¬ 
age but $13,569 per mile, and a double railroad but $11,500, the canal will 
be preferable to the railway only when* the tonnage in both directions shall 
exceed 100,000 tons per annum, and having regard only to the cost of the 
tolls and transportation. Other considerations attached to, and connected 
with either of the two modes of improvement, will, as a matter of course, be 
duly weighed, as well as the circumstance that the railway will be operative 
during the winter season. 

These deductions, which award a slight preference in favor of the railway, 
regard only the conveyance upon it, as well as upon the canal, of heavy, 
bulky, and cheap articles. The instant, however, that we contemplate the 
conveyance of passengers, and the mails, or the transportation of light but 
costly articles of commerce, with regard to which it has often been truly 
said that “time is money,” that moment the advantage must be awarded to 
the railway system in preference to the canal system, beyond the possibility 
of cavil. Moreover, these deductions flow from a contemplation of the use 
of horses alone, as the motive power, and it would be altogether unnecessary 
to reiterate in this place.the advantages to result from the application to rail¬ 
ways of the locomotive steam engine. 

With regard to these estimates, it may be asked, how it comes that we 
have made the cost per mile only $17,288, when the average cost of the Bal¬ 
timore and Ohio railroad, between Ellicott’s mills and the Point of Rocks, 
will be $20,168 per mile, and from Baltimore to the Point of Rocks $27,12S? 
We would answer that the cost of $20,168 includes a considerable length of 
railway, laid with granite instead of wood, whereas it will be observed that 
our estimate of $17,28S is for a railway constructed with sleepers and strong 
pieces of wood, as we have more than once described. This estimate, it is 
conceived, is a fair one for the average cost of such a railway. It is, however, 
but an average, and it may be expected that the actual cost will, in some in¬ 
stances, exceed, whilst in others it will fall short of this amount; principally, 
however, on account of variations in the cost of the graduation and bridging. 
With regard to the average of 827,128, which will be the actual cost on 67£ 
miles from Baltimore to the Potomac, it has, on more than one occasion, 
been stated to the public, that this amount was caused by the uncommon ex¬ 
pensiveness of the first division, extending to Ellicott’s mills, and indeed of 
the first seven miles only; and this was owing less to the inherent difficulties 
which nature really presented to the contemplation of the engineer than to 
circumstances connected with the interests of the improved parts of the city, 
and which claimed to be respected, by means of an approach to the city upon 
a high level, that greatly increased the expenses of the graduation as well as 
of the masonry. We cannot view this occurrence as having any claim to en¬ 
ter into the question of comparison between canals and railways, unless it 
should be agreed also to contemplate the probable cost of a canal on the 7 or 
even 13 miies, in which event we should expect a decided balance against 
the canal. A different view of this case, would be as unfair as it would be to 


189 


[ Doc; No. 101. ] 

allege the cost of the tunnel underthe town of Liverpool as an item insepar¬ 
able from the railway system, when it is known that the docks could have 
been approached differently in another quarter, though not so agreeably to 
the interests of all parties. It is gratifying, however, to know, that, in con¬ 
ducting the railway to the basin, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company 
have accomplished, on the surface of the streets of Baltimore, at an expense 
of from 15 to 20,000 dollars, what has cost the Liverpool and Manchester 
Railway Company §240,000 to secure, by passing woofer Liverpool! 

It may also be expected that we should advert to the causes of the excess 
oftheestimatedcostof the “Alleghany portage railroad,in Pennsylvania,”and 
of the “Columbia and Philadelphia railroad,” beyond the average estimate 
which we have made. We did not expect this estimateof $17,288, toapply to 
that part of a railway that should include the inclined plane, and stationary 
engine system across the Alleghany mountain. It will have been noticed 
that, when upon this particular subject, our estimate for that section was 
$25,000 per mile, with a railway constructed as herein before described. 
The “ Alleghany portage railroad” will be made to overcome an elevation 
of about 1,400 feet on the eastern side of the summit, and 1,171 feet on the 
western side, by means of stationary steam power, and when it is consider¬ 
ed that it is to be laid exclusively of stone and iron, whilst the latter is of 
the heavy English rail, costing three times as much as the rail employed on 
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and that, besides a tunnel, some extensive 
bridges are contemplated, it may readily be conceived that this railway 
should cost $34,600 per mile, inclusive of the machinery. The “Columbia 
and Philadelphia railroad” is likewise to be laid with the expensive kind of 
rail just alluded to, upon cast iron chairs and stone blocks, and it also in¬ 
cludes inclined planes and their machinery, and other very expensive work, 
and especially of bridges, having to traverse the country across the streams. 
This railway is estimated at $28,173 per mile. The construction is of the 
most expensive character, and it has been planned with a view to great per¬ 
manency, and for the use of heavy locomotive engines. 

We have founded our estimates upon that description of railway wffiich 
will occupy an intermediate place in the system; being superior to that having 
but a single track, and inferior to that constructed exclusively of stone and 
iron, or to that which should be formed with heavier iron rails laid upon 
timber. We have done so, in part, because of the probability that is 
sort of railway will be extensively laid, and, in part, because its strength 
will be sufficient to withstand the action of common cars, and the lighter 
description of locomotives; but with a less velocity than is attainable, or 
than will be found to be expedient upon some lines of railway that have been, 
or that will be, projected; yet, allowing of a speed altogether sufficient for the 
general purposes of trade and intercourse, decidedly superiorto canals for the 
conveyance upon it of passengers and goods of the comparatively light and 
valuable descriptions, and not inferior to them for the conveyance of com¬ 
modities of the more bulky and heavy character, especially as the operations 
upon it will not be interrupted from drought, nor, in any material degree, 
from frost and snow. 

It will be seen that the estimate for the annual repairs of a mile of rail¬ 
way, laid with wood, is about the double of that laid with stone sills, w’hen 
the quantity of iron in the rail is the same in each case; that is, the differ¬ 
ence is $250 per annum. When, therefore, in the construction, or in the 
repair, after the wood shall decay, the substitution of stone sills for wood, 



190 f Doc. No. 191. 3 

shall not involve an expenditure in the construction or repair, as the case 
may be, beyond that of the use of wood that will last 12 years, to an amount 
that will produce an interest of $250 per annum at 5 per cent., or $5,000 
per double track, then it will be cheaper to use stone than wood. 

It follows from thence that the toll will be as moderate upon a railway 
laid exclusively of stone and iron, as it will be when wood shall be used in 
the construction; that is, when the railway alone, exclusive of the gradu¬ 
ation and masonry, shall cost in the one case $13,000 per mile per double 
track, and in the other $8,000. It may be expected that, eastward of the 
Alleghany, the stone sill and iron railway will cost from $12,000 to 
$16,000 per mile of double track, exclusive of the graduation and masonry, 
according to the quality of the stone and the local facilities. We conclude, 
therefore, that the advantages of the use of stone sills, instead of strong pieces 
and sleepers of wood, in the construction, should, in every case, be a sub¬ 
ject of due consideration and calculation as to the difference of expense; 
which should not be allowed to exceed $5,000 per mile, as we have stated. 

These remarks regard a railway upon which the motive power shall be 
horses, stationary steam engines, and the lighter description of locomotives 
that shall not move with high velocities. If, however, it shall be intended 
to use the more powerful locomotives, or to employ a velocity that shall 
reach to 15. 20. and, occasionally, to 30 miles per hour, it is conceived that 
the stone sills must be employed, or the railway must be laid according to 
the English plan, as adopted on the “ Columbia and Philadelphia railroad ,” 
or, lastly, it may be laid upon wood, by using iron rails that shall not weigh 
less than 100 tons to the mile of double track, whilst the wood may be in¬ 
creased somewhat in quantity. Of these methods, we lean in favor of the 
stone sills, or the wood, in preference to the English method of stone blocks 
and cast iron chairs, inasmuch as we believe that the object will then be at¬ 
tained at a less expense in the construction and repairs. The adoption of 
wood, however, in the latter case would not be preferred to the stone sills, 
if the latter were accessible at a sufficiently reasonable amount of expense. 

The kinds of railway last adverted to, will vary, in expense of construc¬ 
tion, from $12,000 per mile of double track, up to 820,000 per mile, ex¬ 
clusive of the graduation and masonry, according to the degree of perma¬ 
nency given to the work and the quantity of iron employed. It is probable, 
however, that a railway constructed with a view to the use of locomo¬ 
tive engines weighing six tons, to move with the higher velocities, so as to 
average 15 and 20 miles per hour, can be constructed for from $15,000 to 
$16,000 per mile, exclusive of the graduation and masonry. 

A railroad constructed in this manner, and for these purposes, may be ex¬ 
pected to cost from 825,000 to $30,000 per mile, when the graduation and 
bridging shall be of a medium character in point of expense; but may be ex¬ 
pected to ascend to 40, 50 or 60 thousand dollars a mile, or even more, ac¬ 
cording to the obstacles to overcome in the character of heavy excavations, 
embankments, viaducts and tunnels. 

Previous to engaging in the construction of any considerable work of in¬ 
tercommunication, but more especially of a railway of the latter very expensive 
description, the project should be well weighed in all its attendant aspects 
of probable expense and income. 

We have not undertaken to institute a comparison between a canal and a 
railway of the latter description, inasmuch as this kind of railway is planned 


191 


0 

[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

and executed to accomplish effects in time and space, of which the canal sys¬ 
tem has furnished no example, and for which it is, beyond question, wholly 
inadequate. 

Respectfully submitted. 

J. KNIGHT. 

N. B. The estimate [appended, marked No. 87,] recently made upon 
the route between Baltimore and Washington, is for a railroad of the charac¬ 
ter here contemplated and just described. 


No. 1. 

CHAP. IX. wood’s TREATISE, ED. 1831. 

Comparative performances of motive power on Canals and Railroads . 

The existing agitation of the public mind respecting the relative utility of 
railroads and canals in the transit of goods from one place to another, ren¬ 
ders it a subject of proper inquiry, to ascertain the relative performances of 
the different kinds of motive power upon those two species of internal com¬ 
munication. 

I shall, therefore, give a brief comparison, founded on the foregoing de¬ 
ductions of the different kinds of motive power upon railroads, with the per¬ 
formance of horses, by the present mode of canal navigation. 

Not having had an opportunity, from my own personal observation, of 
ascertaining, with sufficient accuracy, the weights which a horse will drag 
in a boat upon a canal, I shall be obliged to have recourse to the reports of 
those engineers, whose practice, in that line, has enabled them to obtain the 
necessary data. 

Mr. R. Stevenson, of Edinburgh, in his report on the Edinburgh rail¬ 
way, in 1818, states: “ Upon the canals in England, a boat of 30 tons burden 
is generally tracked by one horse, and navigated by two men and a boy; on 
a level railway, it may be concluded that a good horse, managed by a man 
or lad, will work with eight tons: at this rate, the work performed on a rail¬ 
way by one man and horse, is more than in proportion of one-third of the 
work done upon the canal by three persons and a horse;” and Mr. Steven¬ 
son, in his calculations afterwards, assumes the power of a horse, upon a 
good railway, equal to ten tons. 

Mr. Sylvester, in his report on the Liverpool and Manchester railway, 
gives twenty tons as the performance of a horse upon the canal, travelling 
at the rate of two miles an hour. 

The variation of these two statements may have arisen from the observa¬ 
tions being made on canals of different widths. Mr. Stevenson, in another 
report, states, that the striking difference between the draught of horses on 
coming out ©f a narrow canal into a more capacious one, induced the reporter 
to give the subject particular attention; and, by means of experiments made 
with the dynamometer, so far as he had an opportunity of carrying the ex¬ 
periments into effect, the difference appeared to be at least one-fifth in favor 
of the great canal. 

We have been favored, day Mr. Bevan, with some experiments and obser¬ 
vations on the force of traction, with different loads and velocities, on canals. 




192 [ Doc. No. 10J. ] 

The resistance was ascertained by a spring dynamometer attached to the 
towing rope. The length of the boat was 69.5 feet, breadth 6.92 feet. The 
correct transverse section of the canal was not obtained, but was from 90 to 
100 feet; the immersed part of the boat being about 19 feet, or one-fifth of 
the channel. 

The force of traction required to move this boat, loaded with 23.77 tons, 
at a mean velocity of 2.45 miles an hour, was, on an average ot fifty-four 
observations, 79.5 lbs. 

With this load, Mr. Bevan remarks, one horse generally travelled 26£ 
miles a day. 

The same gentleman has also favored us with the following experiments 
made on the Grand Junction canal at Paddington: 

Transverse section of canal 142 feet 
Loaded boat - - 17.2 

a weight of 72 lbs. acting over a pully, drew the empty boat at the rate of 
3.45 miles an hour. 

A weight of 77 lbs. acting in a similar way, produced a medium velocity 
of 2.5 miles an hour when the boat was loaded with 21 tons of cast iron. 

And all circumstances the same as the last experiment, it required a weight 
of 30S lbs. to produce a mean velocity of 3.83 miles an hour. 

Mr. Bevan adds, “The length of the towing line may be considered 98 
feet, and the mean distance of the boat from the towing-path, 20 feet. From 
this experiment, considering that the canal, in that part, was of greater area 
than it is upon an average, it may be inferred that, to maintain a velocity of 
four miles an hour, with a loaded boat, it would require the aid of four 
horses, provided the safety of the banks would allow; but as the canal is now* 
formed, it would not be capable of withstanding the waste produced by such 
a velocity.” 

Mr. Chapman (Canal Navigation, page 73) states, that he observed a boat, 
8 feet width of floor, 10 feet width of water line, 50 feet extreme length, 
loaded with 14 tons, and drawing 2.25 feet of water, dragged against a 
stream, the velocity of which was 5§ miles an hour, with 28 trackers, and 
three men in the boat, pulling it on, and yet it did not advance more than a 
quarter of a mile an hour. 

Mr. Smeaton’s estimate was, 22 tons burden, from 2 to 21 miles an hour, 
with one horse. 

Mr. James Walker, of London, made some experiments in the London 
docks on the relative resistances at different velocities, the result of which 
he communicated to the Royal Society, (May 31, 1S27) which being very 
conclusive, and conducted with, great care, we give an abstract of them. 
(Note L. Appendix.) 

The result of these experiments was, that the resistance increased in a 
greater proportion than the duplicate ratio of the velocities, the respective 
resistances being as follows: 


Velocity in miles an hour. 

2.529 

4.529 
3.871 


Observed resistance In lbs. 


9.41 

42.59 

28.07 


Resistance calculated 
in duplicate ratio of 
the velocity standard. 

38.11 

22.07 


Some experiments, subsequently made, on the Forth and Clyde canal, 
are said to have produced a contrary result at high velocities. We have not 


193 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

seen any official account ofthe^e experiments, but it is [said that, at low ve¬ 
locities, the resistance was found to correspond with that previously known; 
but, on pushing the horses at a greater rate of speed, the foree of traction 
diminished, the waye at the bow of the boat disappeared, and the agitation 
of the water in the canal became comparatively trifling. 

We confess we are somewhat sceptical as to the practical result of these 
experiments, and, at the present eventful period in the life of canal convey¬ 
ance, should think that such an important fact ought not to lie dormant. 
The welfare, and, indeed, almost the existence of so many millions of pro¬ 
perty depending upon the inquiry, calls loudly for the substantiation or dis- 
proval of such important results by a series of incontrovertible experiments. 

Whatever may have been the experimental result, we had an opportu¬ 
nity lately, on a visit to Edinburgh, of observing th zpractical result aris¬ 
ing out of these experiments. 

A boat, constructed of that form which was found to produce the least agi¬ 
tation of the water in the canal, has been applied to convey passengers from 
Edinburgh, by the Union, and then the Forth and Clyde canal, to Glasgow. 

The boat is of great length, and narrow, and, in passing at the rate of 6§ 
miles an hour, or 1,120 yards in 366 seconds, the wave, following the boat, 
was verj considerable; so great, that we observed, at one of the bridges, the 
water washed over a heigjht of masonry 19i inches above the ordinary level 
of the water in the canal.*• 

The boat was dragged by three horses attached to the towing line, with a 
boy riding a poney to drive them. The distance, travelled upon the Union 
canal, is 31 \ miles, and, in that distance, there are six sets, or changes of 
horses; the same horses returning the same distance back. 

This will give the power required equal to that of three horses travelling 
10.5 miles per day; the boat carrying about 60 passengers. 

The horses seemed much distressed by the draught, the action being that 
of a continual dead and unrelaxing effort. Since this, at the commencement 
of the frost in December, the boats have been laid aside, and are not, it is 
said, to be resumed until an iron boat of a better form be built. 

5x10 

Suppose the useful load of this boat equal to 5 tons, then-= 16| tons, 

3 

conveyed one mile, will be the daily performance of a horse on a canal at 
seven miles an hour. And if we take 24 tons of goods, conveyed 20 miles, 
at 2\ miles an hour, we have the relative performance at 2\ and 7 miles, as 
16-J~: 480. 

But we have the relative effort of horses at 2\ and 7 miles an hour as 

102 : 384, whence 62.5; and, therefore, the relative perform- 

103 

ance of horses dragging boats on canals, at 2£ and 7 miles, is as 62.5 : 4S0; 
the resistance, being equal to the duplicate ratio of the velocity, would give 
62.5:490. 

c According to the experiments of Messrs. Bevan and Walker, the resis¬ 
tance should have afforded results greater than the duplicate ratio of the ve¬ 
locities; but we must observe that those experiments were made with the 
\ame boat; whereas the results above is from another boat than that which 
was used for slow rates of speed, and of a construction more adapted for di- 
* minishing the resistance. , 

V We are, therefore, we trust, justified in concluding that when tne most 
suitable form of boat is adopted for the particular load it has to carry, the 
25 




194 £ Doc. No. 101. ] 

resistance of boats on canals, is,at least, equal to the duplicate ratio, or square 
of the velocity. 

The diagram III., page 195, will, therefore, represent the resistance at the 
different velocities; and the following table will show the relative quantity 
of work which a horse is capable of performing by dragging boats on canals, 
and carriages upon railways; assuming that the maximum of useful perform¬ 
ance daily on the former is equal to 480 tons of goods conveyed one mile; 
and, upon the latter, 160 tons conveyed one mile; making the relative per¬ 
formances as 3 : 1. 


TABLE XIII. 


Velocity in 
miles an 
hour. 

Maximum 

rate. 

Useful weight 
conveyed in 
tons. 

Distance in 
miles. 

Useful effect 
in tons con¬ 
veyed 1 mile. 

Number of 
horses re¬ 
quired on 
canal. 

Number of 
horses re¬ 
quired on 
railway. 

Ratio of per¬ 
formances of 
horses on ca¬ 
nals and rail¬ 
ways. 


24 

20 

4S0 

1 . 

3 

1 : 

: 0.33 

3 

24 

20 

480 

3.4 

4.5 

1 : 

0.75 

4 

24 

20 

480 

8.2* 

6.3 

1 : 

1.3 

5 

24 

20 

480 

18. 

8.7 

1 : 

2.7 

6 

24 

20 

480 

31.8 

10.6 

1 : 

3. 

7 

24 

20 

480 

53.6 

13.0 

1 : 

4.1 

8 

24 

20 

480 

85.6 

16. 

1 : 

5.3 
.rx 


From this, we find that, when the rate of speed is about two miles an hour, 
the quantity of goods which a horse can convey upon a canal, is three times 
that which the same horse can convey upon a railroad. And that, when the 
velocity on each is about miles an hour, the resistance of the canal in¬ 
creasing as the square of the velocity, while that of a railroad remains the 
same—the two become equal; and a horse is then enabled to drag as much 
weight upon a carriage on a railroad as in a boat on a canal. When the ve¬ 
locity is further augmented, then the disproportion becomes greater, and a 
much heavier load can be conveyed on a railroad, with the same quantity of 
motive power, than can be done on a canal. 

If, therefore, the rate of tonnage on a canal, arising from the cost of form¬ 
ing, and keeping it in a state of active use, together with the cost of boats, 
be not greater than the tonnage required to form and keep ajailroad in repair, 
and also the carriages by which the goods are conveyed; then the relative 
economy, at different rates of speed in the transit of goods upon canals and 
railroads, will be represented by column 7 of the preceding table. But, as in 
general, the formation of a canal costs much more than the formation of a 
railway, and the annual charges of keeping the boats, towing paths, and 
bridges, &c., in repair, is also considerable, if those expenses be as much 
greater on a canal than upon a railroad, so as to compensate for the extra ad¬ 
vantage of the canal in the greater quantity of goods conveyed at a slow 
rate, then their relative utility will assume a different value, and the rail¬ 
way, requiring a less investment of capital, and less annual charges, may be 
superior, and more economical, even at the lowest and most advantageous 
rate of motion upon canals; and, where facility or expedition of transit is an 
object, then, at the more rapid rates of speeds, the railway will be propor- 
tionably superior. 













195 


f Doc. No. 101. J 

These elemental considerations being, however, matters of calculation, 
where every instance may present a different conclusion, and being de¬ 
pendent upon all the various concomitant circumstances incident to each 
particular case, cannot, in a work like this, be made the subject of even 
conjecture. We have endeavored to furnish all those data which appeared 
general, and which applied to the two modes in conjunction with each other, 
in a practical and general point of view; and it must be left to those pur¬ 
suing the inquiry into all the circumstances of each particular case, when 
they come into competition with each other, to judge, from the individual 
characteristics of each mode, which of the two is preferable. 

When it becomes the subject of discussion which of the two modes is to 
be adopted, it assumes rather a different shape than when a railroad, the 
transit on which is performed by horses, is to enter into competition with 
a canal already formed. 

In the latter case, the canal proprietor commences with considerable ad¬ 
vantage, by the additional quantity of goods which a horse can drag at a 
slow pace upon a canal, where, perhaps, a little loss of time may be no ob¬ 
ject; and the canal proprietor may, even with his great investment of capi¬ 
tal, by reducing his rates of tonnage extremely low, be enabled to compete 
successfully with a railway. 

For, although a horse may, when travelling at the rate of four or six miles 
an hour, convey a greater quantity of goods upon a railway than when em¬ 
ployed in dragging goods at the same velocity upon a canal; yet still a horse 
cannot drag more goods at the rate of four miles an hour upon a railway 
than he can at two miles an hour upon a canal; for, in no case, does the 
greatest quantity of work that a horse can do at the most beneficial pace 
on a canal, reach below three times that which a horse can do at any pace 
upon a railroad. 

For the conveyance of passengers, or where the transit of any species of 
goods may require a celerity of four miles an hour, then railways become, 
unquestionably, more economical than canals; but if the question be the 
abstract performance, or quantity of goods to be transported from one place 
to another, without reference to speed, then the quantity of work done 
by a horse on a canal will always be three times that which he is capable of 
doing on a railway. The comparative expense arising from the extra in¬ 
terest of capital, and the annual charges and maintenance of a canal, may 
reduce this proportionate performance near to an equality; or, if the one 
compensate for the other, then, perhaps, the less investment of capital in 
a railroad, and the greater certainty of transit, may make it superior to a 
canal. But, unless the disparity of cost is great between a railroad entering 
into competition with an existing canal, or unless some extraordinary cir¬ 
cumstances in the nature of the traffic occur, it may be difficult to say, 
when horses are the motive power on each, which is superior. 

There is one very important property in a railway which gives it a great 
advantage over a canal, viz. the range of undulation which its nature per¬ 
mits; a straighter and shorter line can mostly be made between one place 
and another, which, from the necessity of having canals always perfectly 
level, or, at least, that level only broken at certain intervals by the occur¬ 
rence of locks, occasions, frequently, a difference in distance of consider¬ 
able magnitude; and this, in many instances, may diminish the comparative 
cost of transporting goods, and give a superiority to railroads. 

And, again, in many cases, where the principal part of the goods are to 



196 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

be conveyed in one direction, by a proper inclination of the railway, the 
weight of the goods conveyed, or quantity of work done, may, in some in¬ 
stances, be considerably augmented, without presenting a greater average 
resistance than previously stated, when the.relative performance upon rail¬ 
roads will be proportionably increased. We have a very striking proof of 
this in table 5, of the weight which a horse can drag, upon certain inclina¬ 
tions of road, when the train is descending. On 1 in 250, the gross weight 
is 28.44 tons, an increase of performance in the ratio of 2S.44 : 12, which 
cannot be taken advantage of by a canal;as, in that case, locks would be re¬ 
quired, which would diminish, rather than increase, the performance. 

Having thus given a few hasty remarks on the comparison of railroads 
with canals, in the use of animal power, we shall now give a brief compari¬ 
son between the use of mechanical power on railroads, and animal power 
on canals; and here, as in every other case where the two species of action 
come in competition, we shall find the mechanical power outstrip the animal 
in general economy. 

TJIBLE of the relative performances of Horses dragging boats on Ca¬ 
nals, and Locomotive Engines dragging carriages upon Railroads. 
The former supposed to be without locks , and the latter horizontal. 

TABLE XIV. 


Velocity in miles, per hour. 

Useful weight conveyed, in 
tons. 

Distance, in miles, being that 
which a horse travels in a 
day. 

Time, in hours, occupied by 
horses in travelling 20 
miles, at the respective ve¬ 
locities of column 1. 

Number of horses required 
to perform the work on a 
canal, from table xiii. 

Distance, in miles, which a 
locomotive engine, on a 
railroad, would travel in 
the time of column 4. 

Ratio of distance traversed in 
the same time by locomo¬ 
tive engines on a railroad* 
and horses dragging boats 
on a canal. 

Ratio of performance of 
horses on canals, and lo¬ 
comotive engines on rail¬ 
roads, in the time of co¬ 
lumn 4. 

Max.rate 

24 

20 

8 

1. 

120 

6 : 1 

1 : 6 

3 

24 

20 

6 ! 

3.4 

100 

5 : 1 

1 : 17 

4 

24 

20 

5 

S.2 

75 

31 : 1 

1 : 30 

5 

24 

20 

4 

18. 

60 

3 : 1 

1 : 54 

6 

24 

20 

3^ 

31.8 

50 

2h : 1 

1 : SO 

7 

24 

20 

2« 

53.6 

42* 

4 2i : 1 

1 : 120 

S 

24 

20 

2* 

85.6 

37£ 

If : 1 

1 : 175 


From this table, we find that a locomotive engine, effecting a constant 
average velocity of fifteen miles an hour, will, in ten hours, on a railroad, 
perform the work of six horses, employed in dragging goods at the rate of 
two miles an hour upon a canal; and, as this rate of speed on a canal is that 
when the performance of a horse is a maximum, we der ive the conclusion— 
that, so long as the expense of one locomotive engine does not exceed that 
of six horses and their attendants, then goods can be conveyed with the 
same expenditure of motive power, at fifteen miles an hour, upon a rail¬ 
road, that they can be conveyed at two miles an hour upon a canal. 














197 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

We have elsewhere stated that, in general, one locomotive engine may 
be estimated to cost as much as four horses; but the comparison was made 
with horses upon railroads, where one attendant to each horse is sufficient. 
On canals it will be different, as the attendants upon each horse and boat are 
generally three; the relative cost of locomotive engines will, therefore, be 
diminished, and their utility, in comparison with horses on canals, propor¬ 
tionally increased. 

But this is not the only benefit resulting from the application of steam 
power to railways, viz. that goods are conveyed with the same expenditure 
of motive power on a railroad, at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, that goods 
can be conveyed at the rate of two miles an hour upon a canal. 

If it be attempted to augment the velocity on a canal to three miles an 
hour, then one locomotive engine on a railroad will, in six hours and two- 
thirds, perform the work of seventeen horses on a canal; and if the velocity 
be further increased to four miles an hour, then, in five hours, the locomotive 
engine will perform the work of thirty horses; and, as often as these times 
are repeated, a similar ratio of performance will be accomplished. 

We have a very conclusive illustration of this in the instance of the fly¬ 
boat on the Union canal: supposing it loaded with sixty passengers back and 
forwards, the 31§ miles requires eighteen horses. Upon the Liverpool and 
Manchester railway, nearly the same distance, an engine traverses, twice a day, 

120 y 2 

with 120 passengers at a time=120 miles. Therefore—x 18 = 72 

horses. From which we find that an engine, half loaded, performs the work 
of 72 horses, conveying passengers on the railroad at a rate of transit more 
than double that on the canal. 

This is sufficient to show the utter impracticability of attempting a compe¬ 
tition between canals with horses, and railroads with locomotive engines, 
in the conveyance of passengers. It follows, from this, that the only su¬ 
periority existing in any part of the economy of canals, and that wherein a 
transient advantage over railroads occurs, when animal power is employed, 
and which consists in the less resistance opposed to the motive power in 
transporting heavy goods at a slow pace, is superceded by the application of 
machinery to railways. And this result may be expected whenever, as 
previously stated, the nature of the work permits the application of mecha¬ 
nical power in the one case, and it is brought into competition with animal 
labor in the other. 

These observations of the relative performances, with respect to work on 
railroads and canals, apply to the motive power only. 

If the formation and annual charge of a canal exceed that of a railroad, 
then a further increase of advantage is produced in favor of railroads: on 
the contrary, if the balance is in favor of a canal, then it will become a 
question, whether the additional celerity in the transit of goods by a rail¬ 
road, will compensate for any additional cost of the railway? In general, 
the difference of cost, both in the formation and annual charges, is presumed 
to be in favor of railroads, (see note M,) and, if any judgment can be formed 
from a comparison of the tonnage upon the various canals in the different 
districts of England, and that on railroads, the presumption appears nearly 
indisputable. (See note N.) * 

The trifling injury done to the road by the action of the locomotive en¬ 
gine, considerably enhances its value, by diminishing the charges of tonnage 
for annual repairs, which, added to the less investment of capital required 



198 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

in the formation of a railroad, excites reasonable expectations of a very im¬ 
portant change in the economy, and also celerity of internal communication. 

In the above disquisitions, canals have been compared with railways in 
their most favorable state, as being without locks; any variation from this, 
will throw the balance more in favor of the latter; any deviation in the line 
of a canal from the horizontal, must be overcome by locks, which are pro¬ 
ductive of delay; whereas, in a descending line, especially when the trade 
is in that direction, an incaease of effect takes place. 

In these disquisitions, we have a decided superiority of railroads, both in 
point of economy and despatch, in the conveyance of heavy goods over 
canals. In the conveyance of light goods, or passengers, no practical com¬ 
parison can be made. Canals, after between 70 and 80 years’ experience, 
seem incapable of being applied to those purposes. Railways, on the con¬ 
trary, seem indisputably the best and most economical for all the purposes 
of internal communication and traffic, for light or for heavy and bulky goods, 
as well as for celerity of intercourse, the most rapid ever yet effected. 

Taking all these circumstances into consideration, it can no longer be 
questioned which of the two modes is superior: the example of the Liver¬ 
pool and Manchester railway, where it has been proved that, with an expen¬ 
diture of capital of the greatest magnitude in overcoming difficulties which, 
perhaps, will never again present themselves, the conveyance of passengers 
alone was sufficient to realize a remunerating price to the company. 

Canals being incapable of adaptation to the celerity of transport requisite 
for such purposes, are, therefore, deprived of a source of revenue the most 
lucrative; in a few, and, perhaps, only in a very few instances, can there¬ 
fore canals be brought into a comparison with railways. 

And when we look at the rapid improvement which the latter have under¬ 
gone within so short a period, the improvements which are still in progress, 
and which the ingenuity of that combination of talent now so powerfully di¬ 
rected towards them cannot fail of bringing to the highest state of perfection, 
we are led to expect the most important results in the economy and celerity 
of commercial intercourse. 

It* will not, perhaps, be necessary, in a work like this, to explain, at 
greater length, the relative merits of canals and railroads. Local circum¬ 
stances may effect general results, but, unless other causes transpire than the 
simple abstract question of the two modes in comparison with each other, 
we have, by the application of mechanical power to railroads, the advantage 
of a less investment of capital, and also a saving, by the motive power, 
which, combined with the celerity of despatch, must prove of infinite im¬ 
portance to commerce. 


199 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

No. 2. 

TABLE X. WOOD’S TREATISE, ED. 1831. 


Gross load , in tons , which a locomotive engine , capable of taking 30 
tons, at 15 miles an, hour, will drag at the undermentioned velocities, 
in miles an hour . 


Inclination of 
plane. 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


Level 
1 in 4480 
2240 
1120 
1000 
900 
800 
700 
600 
500 
448 
400 
350 
300 
250 
200 
150 
100 


53.4 

50.85 
48.51 

46.5 

43.56 

42.9 

41.7 

41.25 
39. 
37.05 
35.61 
33.75 

32.7 

31.44 

28.2 

25.11 
21 36 

17.55 


51.81 

49.35 
47.1 
45.03 
42 3 

41.7 

39.9 
39. 

37.8 
36. 

34 5 

33.15 

31.56 
29 76 

27.36 
24 36 
20.7 
17.02 


39.23 
37.35 
35.62 
34 05 
32.02 
31 57 

30.6 

29.7 

28.57 
27 22 
26.1 

24.37 
23.92 
22.53 
20 7 
18 45 
15 6 

12.9 


34.28 
32 62 

31.12 
29 77 

27.97 

27.6 

26.77 

25.95 
24 97 

23.77 

22.87 

21.97 

20.85 
19 65 
18 57 
16 12 
13.65 

11.25 


30. 

28.57 
27.22 
26.02 

24.45 
24 15 
23 4 
22 73 

21.9 

20.85 
19.'7 

19.2 
18 25 

17.17 

15.82 
14 1 
12 . 

9.82 


26.25 
24 97 

23.85 
22.8 
21 45 

21.15 

20.47 
19 87 
19.05 
18.22 

17.47 
16 8 
15 97 
15.07 
13 87 
12 37 

10.5 

8.62 


20 . 

18 97 

18.15 
17.32 
16.27 

16.12 

15.6 
15.07 

14.55 

13.87 
13 27 
12 75 
12 15 

11.47 
10 57 

9.37 

7.95 
6.58 


22.94 

21.82 
20 85 
19 95 

18.7 

18.45 

17.85 
17.32 
16 72 

15.9 

15.25 

14.7 

13.95 

13.12 
12.07 
11.05 

9.15 

7.5 


45. 

42.57 

40.87 
39.07 
36 75 
36 3 

35.15 
34.05 
32 85 

31.2 
30. 

28.8 

27.37 
25 8 

23.77 
21 22 
18. 

14.77 


19 


17.36 

16.5 

15.9 
15.07 

14.17 

13.95 

13.5 

13.12 
12.67 
12 . 

11.55 

11.1 

10.5 

9.97 

9.15 

8.17 
6.93 
5.71 


Table X gives the performance of a locomotive engine, at the rate of 10 
miles an hour, 53.4 tons; and we are convinced, from experiments 
made since the calculation of that table, that we are quite within their pow¬ 
ers. An experiment, with the “ Planet” engine, gives 75 tons gross con¬ 
veyed from Liverpool to Manchester (30 miles) in 2 hours and 54 minutes. 
(See Appendix, Note E.) 

We shall, however, take the performance in the table at 12 miles an hour, 
equal to 45 tons, and continue the comparison for 8 hours, which will make, 
at 2h miles an hour, the horses accomplish their day’s work of 20 miles, 
and the engine 96 miles in that time. 

The following table will then show the respective performances: 


TABLE XII. 



Velocity in 
miles per 
hour. 

Load taken 
in tons. 

Distance tra- 
veiled per 
day. 

Effective 
performance 
in tons con¬ 
veyed 1 mile 

No. ofhorses 
equal to one 
locomotive 
engine. 

Locomotive engine 

12 

45 

96 

4,320 




12 

20 

240 

18 

Horses - \ 

10* 

3 3-3 

13 

43.8 

98 


We have given two tables, one table X, on the supposition that 30 tons 
moved at 15 miles an hour, is the load, and the other (table XI,) one*third 
more, or 40 tons moved at the same rate. 































200 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

On long lines of road, we may calculate upon a load equal to the reisist- 
ance of 30 tons upon a level being taken, calculated upon the average incli¬ 
nation of the whole line: provided that any short undulations, which may 
occur, do not present a resistance greater than the power of adhesion of the 
wheels, or greater than given in table XL 

The latter table will, therefore, show the load which may be overcome 
upon any short undulations, and the velocity which the engine can move 
with such loads; and we have carried the calculations of those tables farther 
than the load which the adhesion of the wheels can overcome. 

That the engines are capable of effecting such a performance as that 
shown in table XI, will appear from a calculation of the powers of the 
“ Planet” engine.' The cylinders are 11 inches diameter; length of stroke 
16 inches; area of cylinders = 190 inches, which, moved through 32 
inches in each revolution of the wheels, = 6,080. 

The diameter of the wheels is 5 feet; circumference 188.4; the resistance 
of 40 tons, is 400 lbs.; whence 188.4x400=79,360; therefore, WVo 0 ~ 
13 lbs. per square inch upon the piston effective pressures, to overcome a 
resistance equal to 40 tons, moved at the rate of 15 miles an hour; which, 
with steam of the elasticity of 50 lbs. per square inch, is an effective pres¬ 
sure of 26 percent—the number of strokes per minute being 84; velocity 
of piston 224 feet per minute. We shall now ascertain, if the boiler is ca¬ 
pable of generating a sufficient quantity of steam, to keep up an adequate 
supply at 50 lbs. pressure per square inch. 

The area of the two cylinders is 60S0 x 84 strokes per minute, = 510.720 
cubic inches of steam expended every minute. We find, from table IX, 
that the “ Arrow,” whose powers of generating steam is not equal to the 
“ Planet,” evaporated 275 gallons per hour, or 4.SO gallons per minute; 
which will give about 501, 32S cubic inches of steam, at 50 lbs., or 510,720 
cubic inches, at 49 lbs., increasing the effective pressure from 26. to 26.5 
per cent. We have previously found that these engines are capable of 
yielding an effective power of upwards of 30 per cent, of the pressure on 
the piston. 

We thus see that those engines are not only capable of effecting a per¬ 
formance equal to that in table XI, for short distances, or over casual un¬ 
dulations; but that, with a power of evaporation equal to 275 gallons per 
hour, they will be capable of constantly keeping up that performance. 


Note E. 

tf On Saturday last, (4th December, 1830,) the ‘Planet’ engine, Mr. 
Stevenson’s, took the first load of merchandise which has passed along the 
railway from Liverpool to Manchester. The team consisted of 18 car¬ 
riages, containing 135 hags and bales of American cotton; 200 barrels of 
flour; 63 sacks of oatmeal, and 34 sacks of malt, weighing, altogether, 51 
tons 11 cwt. 1 quarter. 

To this must be added the weight of the wagons and oilcloths, viz. 
23 tons 8 cwt. 3 quarters; tender, water, and fuel, 4 tons; *and 15 per¬ 
sons on the team, 1 ton; making a total weight of exactly eighty tons f 
exclusive of the engine about 6 tons. 

The journey was performed in 2 hours and 54 minutes, including three 
stoppages of five minutes each, (one only being necessary under ordinary 
circumstances,) for oiling, watering, and taking in fuel; ur>der the disad- 





201 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

vantage also of an adverse wind, and of a great additional friction in the 
wheels and axles, owing to their being entirely new. The team was as¬ 
sisted up the Rainhill inclined plane, by other engines, at the rate of 9 miles 
an hour; and descended the Sutton incline at the rate of 16§ miles an 
hour. The average rate, on the other part of the road, was 12£ miles an 
hour, the greatest speed on the level being 15£ miles an hour, which was 
maintained for a mile or two at different periods of the journey.”— 
Liverpool paper. 

“ The journey between the two places was, on the 23d November, per¬ 
formed by the 4 Planet’ engine in 60 minutes, including two minutes, the 
time employed in taking in water on the road as usual. 

“ The motive for performing the journey, was, that the engine had been 
engaged to bring up from Manchester to Liverpool some voters for the 
election; and, by some cause or other, the time of setting out was delayed, 
rendering it necessary to use extraordinary despatch in order to convey 
the voters to Liverpool in time.”— Liverpool paper. 

“ The engines have conveyed about 50,000 passengers, and have tra¬ 
versed a distance of 28,620 miles, or 954 trips from Liverpool to Man¬ 
chester and back, from the 16th of September to the 7th December, inclu¬ 
sive; during which period there have only been eleven instances of the 
journey exceeding by half an hour the time fixed for its performance.” 
—Liverpool paper. 


No. 3. 

Office of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, 

January 27, 1S31. 

Gentlemen: In compliance with your request, under date of the 19th 
instant, and in obedience to an order of the House of Delegates, passed on the 
11th, requiring “ the Committee on Internal Improvements to inquire in¬ 
to, and report the relative expense, benefits and facilities of constructing rail¬ 
roads and canals, with a view of ascertaining to which of those means the 
funds of the State can be most beneficially applied;” I now enclose a com¬ 
munication, illustrative of these several subjects, from the chief engineer of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. 

And am, very respectfully, &c. 

P. E. THOMAS, President , 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company . 

To the Committee on Internal Improvements, 

House of Delegates, Annapolis. 


Engineer’s Office of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
Company, January 24, 1831. 

In accordance with thy request, I submit the following observations in 
regard to the comparative merits of canals and railways, so far as relates to 
their expense, facilities of constn ction, and benefits to the State of Mary¬ 
land, in point of revenue, as well as of general advantage to the citizens, 
26 




202 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

1. First—Comparative expense. As a canal and a railroad cannot both be 
constructed between any two points on the same identical route, therefore, 
the evidence, by which we are to judge of their comparative expense on a gi¬ 
ven line, must consequently be that of an estimate for each, or by an ap¬ 
proximate conclusion drawn from analogy. 

I know of but one route, on which careful estimates have been made at 
the same time both for a canal and for a railroad. The route here alluded 
to, is along the Potomac river, from the Point of Rocks to Harper’s Ferry, 
or at least so much of that route as was included in the narrow passes. 

These estimates were made by N. S. Roberts and myself, as commission¬ 
ers appointed by the Chancellor of Maryland to examine and survey the 
ground with a view to the location of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal and 
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad along that line. In the first place, a route 
was run for the canal, and an estimate made for it, without any regard to 
the railroad. In the next place, a route was run and estimated for the gra¬ 
duation and masonry of the railroad, with a view to three sets of tracks 
through the same narrow passes, without any regard to the canal. 

From these estimates, therefore, adding to the estimates for the railroad, 
an average price for the laying of three tracks of railway on the graduated 
surface so to be prepared, we arrive at results which will give the compa¬ 
rative probable expense of both the canal and railroad. 

The canal was assumed to be of such dimensions, that, with a depth of 
water of 6 feet, its cross section should contain an area of 306 square feet. 
The breadth of the graduation for the railroad was to be 30 feet. 

Estimates for the Canal. 


Lower Point of Rocks, length 3,023 feet, cost 

Upper Point of Rocks, length 2,133 do - 

Miller’s Narrows 3,052 do - 

Harper’s Ferry Narrows, 1,126 do - 

- $45,766 

23,123 
30,028 
28,102 

Total, - - - 9,334 

Add 10 per cent, for superintendence, &c. 

$ 127,019 
12,702 

Amounting to - 

Equal to $79,036 per mile. 

- $139,721 

Estimates for the Railroad. 


Lower Point of Rocks, length 3,427 feet, cost 

Upper Point of Rocks, 3,107 do - 

Miller’s Narrows, 3,500 do - 

Harper’s Ferry Narrows, 1,100 do - 

- $ 12,472 
9,746 
16,S79 
5,556 

Total, - - 11,134 

Add 10 per cent, for superintendence, &c. 

Also for three sets of tracks on a length of 11,134 feet, 
per mile per track, including superintendence, &c. 

$44,654 

4,466 

at $ 5,000 

31,631 


Amounting to.$80,751 

Equal to $38,294 per mile—with but a double set of tracks, the cost of 
the railroad, when completed, would be $ 33,294 per mile. 







203 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

In relation to the foregoing estimates, the following remarks may be made: 

1. The estimate for laying the rail track is assumed equal to the actual 
cost of that on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, which has been laid with 
the use of wooden string pieces and stone blocks. According to the expe¬ 
rience which we have already had, the substitution of wood sleepers for the 
stone blocks would result in a cost of $4,000 per mile, and the use of stone 
sills in lieu of either, would result in about 6,000 to 6,500 dollars per mile, 
as the cost of a single track, as stated in the 4th annual report of the com¬ 
pany. 

2. The estimates for the canal above stated, do not include any lockage, 
though there will be about forty feet of fall to provide for by locks between 
the Point of Rocks and Harper’s Ferry. Nor is the cost estimated for 
lining the interior, banks of the canal with stone, a precaution, without 
which such a work cannot be considered as finished. This conclusion re¬ 
sults from experience had on the New York Erie canal. 

The amount of this latter item would perhaps be about $5,000 per mile, 
to which must also be further added the proportional expense per mile for 
the requisite lockage. 

3. On the whole, therefore, whether we take the estimates as already 
stated, or with such additions as will make them of the most permanent 
character, still the ratio of the probable expense of their construction will, 
on the ground here estimated, be about as two for the canal to one for the 
railroad. 

4. I have not seen the last estimates for the canal on the intermediate 
grounds, and, therefore, cannot institute so strict a comparison with regard 
to them. My opinion is, that, in the most favorable ground along the river 
bottom lands, the expense of the canal would exceed that of the railroad 
from 25 to 60 per cent. 

In relation to other routes. Until we have definitive calculations for a 
greater variety of instances in this country, than we are yet able to lay be¬ 
fore the public in relation to this question, we can only offer our opinions 
upon the limited data within our reach. 

In the report of the United States’ Board of Internal Improvements, the 
cost of constructing the Chesapeake and Ohio canal from Georgetown to 
Cumberland, was estimated at about $8,000,000. It is true, other esti¬ 
mates have since been made reducing the amount perhaps to about 
$5,000,000. But it is understood, that, so far as the construction of that 
work has been prosecuted, the latter estimate has been found to be wholly 
inadequate, and I am of the opinion that, unless the dimensions shall be 
contracted, or the work be made less permanent in its character, the esti¬ 
mate first mentioned will not be far from the amount which that work will 
have actually cost, should it be completed to Cumberland. 

5. It is confidently believed, that the cost of the railroad to Cumberland, 
inclusive of the extraordinary expense of that portion of it between Balti¬ 
more and Ellicott’s mills, will not exceed §5,000,000. 

The estimate made by the same board for the entire canal from George¬ 
town to Pittsburg, amounted to about §22,000,000. It is conceived that 
the cost of the railroad would not be one half of this amount, and it might not 
exceed one third of it. 

The stupendous reservoirs and tunnel, and the numerous locks which 
have been considered necessary in crossing the mountains on the middle di¬ 
vision of the canal, would be dispensed with in case of a railroad, and the 


204 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 



comparatively insignificant expense of inclined planes, and stationary steam 
power, substituted. 

It is believed that the expense of constructing a canal from Baltimore to 
the Point of Rocks would be double what the railroad between the same 
points will cost. 

The estimate reported by Dr. Howard, for a canal from Georgetown, D. 
C., to Baltimore, the length being 441 miles, amounted to about. $^,800,000. 

It is not doubted but that the half of this sum would be more than ample 
for a railroad.* 

Upon the whole, I infer, that, over rough and difficult grounds, yet such 
as have been pronounced practicable for a canal, the cost of a canal would be 
about from 50 to 100 per cent, more than that of a railroad. The former 
to be as spacious as such works may be expected to be made on such ground, 
and the latter to have a double set of tracks; and that, on the most favorable 
grounds which the country affords for such works, the ratio of expense may 
be expected to vary, from an equality to 50 percent, in favor of railroads. 

Second—Facilities for Construction. The answer to this part of the 

inquiry may be considered as almost included in the preceding one. 

It may, however, be added, that, by reason of the supply of water neces¬ 
sary for canals, their number, extent, and locality, will necessarily be much 
more limited than railways. It may also be recollected that the minimum 
discharges of running streams becomes less as the country advances in agri¬ 
cultural and manufacturing improvements. 

Railroads can be constructed, advantageously, over a considerable variety 
of inclination and character of surface, impracticable for canals, and their 
branches can be made to penetrate the glens and defiles of the mountains, 
where lockage would be very great, and the supply of water for canals total¬ 
ly insufficient, but where extensive iron and other manufacturing establish¬ 
ments may be located. 

Third—Benefits to the State , and advantages to the citizens. The 
benefits and advantages, both to the State and to the citizens composing it, 
it is conceived, will be greater from the railroad than from the canal system. 

The following observations are offered in support of this opinion: 

The capital invested in a given line of railroads and canals will, in no 
case, be greater in the first, and will often be only half of what the latter 
would require, whilst the speed on the former may be four times as great as 
on the latter. The resistance from friction is equal through equal spaces, 

* Recently, an estimate, based upon experimental surveys, (appended, marked No. 8,) has 
boen made by me, of the probable cost of constructing a railroad upon 29 miles of this route, to 
wit: between the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and the northeastern boundary line of the city of 
Washington, amounting to $1,555,529, including contingencies and superintendence; and it 
is probable if the route had been extended to the basin at Baltimore, on the route surveyed for 
the canal, and to Georgetown, on the apparently favorable ground through Washington, so as 
to embrace the extreme points estimated for the canal, that the estimate for the railroad on the 
entire route from Baltimore to Georgetown, would have been about $2,000,000. 

This estimate, however, is based upon a plan for a railroad of the first class, with a double 
railway of such strength, and with grades and curvatures so reduced, as to allow of the employ¬ 
ment of the heavier locomotive engines, with the highest velocities that may be desired or ad¬ 
missible; and is, therefore, much higher than was contemplated in the comparison abovemen- 
tioned, or than would be sufficient for a railway that would be equally effective with a canal. 
With less latitude than has been taken upon the roailroad between Baltimore and the Point of 
Rocks, as respects grade and curvature, there can be no doubt that a railroad could be con¬ 
structed from Baltimore to Georgetown for one-half the estimate for the canal. 


J. KNIGHT. 


March 5, 1832. 





205 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

whatever may be the velocity. The resistance of fluids, occasioned from 
a body passing through them, is rather more than in proportion to the squares 
of the velocities of the bodies in motion, whether it be a boat or a car; and 
as the density of water is to that of the air as 800 is to 1, therefore the re¬ 
sistance from water will be 800 times greater than the resistance from the at¬ 
mosphere with an equal velocity. It is not likely, therefore, that velocities 
on railroads will often be as high as to require a calculation for atmospheric 
resistance; whilst the law by which the resistance of fluids increases, causes 
that resistance, in a medium so dense as water, soon to be in equilibrio with 
any impelling power which can be employed. 

The force of the wind and of steam has been the most successful in propel¬ 
ling vessels upon water; but the maximum velocity, under the most favorable 
circumstances, (not in canals, but in seas, bays, and large rivers,) is not 
known to have exceeded about 13 miles per hour, whilst, on a railway, in 
the present yet almost infant state of that kind of improvement, more than 
four times that velocity is known to have been obtained. 

The inference, therefore, is, especially if canals are included, that locomo¬ 
tion upon land by means of railroads will take place with quadruple the ve¬ 
locity that can possibly be attained upon water. I say possibly, for if any 
one should say that he imagines improvements will yet be made in the con¬ 
veyance upon water, I answer that the probability is much greater that fur¬ 
ther improvements will yet be made in the conveyance upon land. The 
law of resistance is decisive of this matter, and, being a law of nature, it must 
always continue to operate. 

Seeing, therefore, that the capital invested will be less, and that the cele¬ 
rity and ease of movement will be vastly greater on a railway than on a ca¬ 
nal, and supposing, which will not be doubted when the velocity is con¬ 
sidered, that the capacity of railways will be ample for all the wants of trade 
and intercourse, what can prevent the advantages of a railway being as great, 
nay greater, to the State and to the community, than those to result from a 
canal? 

If it be said that goods can be conveyed cheaper on a canal, it may be re¬ 
marked that the abundance of fuel in this country will always give to steam 
a preference as the cheapest moving power, and that this agent will secure 
to railways their full effect, and cannot fail to place them pre eminent above 
all other modes of inland communication. 

A locomotive engine and its train, conveying thirty tons of goods 120 
miles in a day, would cause a daily expense of about ten dollars. This 
would be 3,600 tons conveyed one mile for 100 cents, that is, at the rate of 
278, or a little over one quarter of a cent per ton per mile. The operation 
of the locomotive at Charleston, S. C. will justify this conclusion, without 
reference to what has been demonstrated in England. 

The cost of transporting coal on the Hudson and Delaware canal, during 
the last season, was $1 50 per ton, exclusive of any charge for toll—the 
length of this canal is 108 miles. The engineers staled, however, that the 
company expected to reduce the charge to one dollar and twenty-five cents, 
which would be at the rate of 1]-cents per ton per mile. This canal has 
considerable lockage, but not more than an average quantity. The larger 
dimensions, however, of the Lehigh canal and of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal, would, (if we except the mountain section of the latter, in which the 
quantity of lockage will be unprecedented) allow the charge for transporta¬ 
tion to" be less. But I do not perceive how it could, on any canal, be less 

.1 l U- _ l x __! I __ 



206 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

It would appear, therefore, that the cost of transportation will not be 
greater, but may, and probably will be less, or even one half, on a railway 
with locomotive engines, than it can be on the best canal; and the capital in¬ 
vested being less, the tolls may also be less. 

Therefore, whether we regard the amount of revenue to be derived, or the 
facilities and general advantages to the citizens to result from the canal or rail¬ 
road system, it will follow that railroads must have the preference. This pre¬ 
ference will be rendered more decisive, when we reflect that a canal generally 
occupies the most valuable lands, and that it requires a much greater quantity of 
land for itself, its feeders, dams and reservoirs; that it interferes with the plans 
of irrigation and drainage, and deranges the hydraulic improvements connect¬ 
ed with the manufacturing industry of a country, and, to that extent, crip¬ 
pling its powers of production, whether present or prospective; that it con¬ 
siderably interferes with the free access and intercourse to and from the 
lands and neighborhoods ly ing upon its opposite sides, and tends to prevent 
the location and use of roads where public or private convenience might re¬ 
quire them across the route of the same—that, from the combined effects of 
floods, breaches, repairs, drought and cold, the average duration of its navi¬ 
gable condition, in our climate, is reduced to about one-half of the year—and 
that the navigation is tardy when in operation, being too slow for the transit 
of light goods, or for the conveyance of passengers, mails, or messengers; 
that the railroad requires a less width of ground, and none that may be re¬ 
quired for feeders, dams or reservoirs, and will not so frequently occupy the 
best lands; it does not use or interfere with the streams and waters employed, 
or which may be employed for irrigation, or for any hydraulic or manufac¬ 
turing purposes; but, on the other hand, it adds to the value, and thus im¬ 
mensely increases the resources and wealth of the country, and in turn the bu¬ 
siness and revenue upon the road consequently thereby become increased; that 
it interferes comparatively in a very small degree, if at all, with a free passage 
over it from side to side, either for the purpose of agriculture, or for other in¬ 
tercourse, or with public or private roads, whether existing or hereafter to be 
located; that breaches will be rare, and their effects to prevent the use of the 
\Yay, will be so temporary, that very little inconvenience, if any, will be felt in 
consequence; repairs in general will not prevent a free use of the road, whilst 
their amount will be less for the railway than for the canal; that the movement 
upon the railway will not be impeded either by drought or cold, the only im¬ 
pediment during the winter season will be from a fall of snow, which it has 
been demonstrated is so easily removed as scarcely to offer any obstruction, 
and consequently that the railroad may be considered to be virtually passable 
throughout the whole year; that the rapidity of the movements upon it may 
be as great as the wants of trade and intercourse can demand, or prudence 
admit; not only for the conveyance of persons, and the public mails, but of 
every commodity for which conveyance could be sought; that, since necessi¬ 
ty would cause railways to be preferred to canals in many places and situa¬ 
tions, whatever might otherwise be our opinions of their relative value; and 
since transfers and transshipments add to the expense and risk, therefore, 
from this cause alone the ratio of advantage would work favorably to the 
railroad system throughout. For the car that issues from the mine, or from 
the manufaclory, with its freight of minerals orof wares, would then have no 
obstacle to its travelling to the most remote depot; and at once delivering its 
freight into a warehouse, ship, coal yard, or other place, without any expense 
or delay on the intermediate shifting of the load. Tredgold gave his opin- 
io^r^voj^^^anaHi^^eve^istnetJmt^Uh^am^ime^emaHiedthat, 



207 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

in nine cases out of ten, the railroad should be preferred. (See his Treatise 
on Railroads, 1S25, ch. 1.) Our climate is more unfavorable to canals than 
that of England; in addition to which, it must be remarked, that from the 
inventions and improvements w’hich have since been made, the railroad sys¬ 
tem has double, if not treble the efficiency that it had when Tredgold wrote. 
(See also Wood’s Treatise on Railroads, 1825, ch. ix.) 

In offering the foregoing remarks, it is by no means intended to contro¬ 
vert or dispute the utility of canals, but to make known, in a brief and summary 
manner, the comparative advantages of canals and railways so far as concerns 
our country, and to state explicitly my preference in favor of railways. In¬ 
deed it is obvious, that, of two States, the one adopting the railroad, and the 
other the canal system, the one which adopts the railroad would always con¬ 
tinue to have a decided advantage, whether as regards its agriculture, its 
manufactures, or its commerce, in proportion to the greater celerity, econo¬ 
my, and certainty which the one system affords over the other—consequent¬ 
ly, other things being equal, would become the most populous, wealthy, in¬ 
telligent and powerful. And that whatever advantages may result to Eng¬ 
land from the high speed attainable on railways, the amount of the advan¬ 
tages to arise, from the same high speed, must be greatly enhanced in a 
country so extended and so governed as the United States. 

Respectfully submitted. 

JONATHAN KNIGHT, 

Chief Engineer . 

Philip E. Thomas, President , 


No. 4. 

Duration of Malleable Iron Rails and of Wheels. 

The rate of wearing of the wheels and rails will be at least as 50 to 1, even 
when the traffic is very great. N. Wood’s Treatise, p. 178. 

The quantity of wearing of wrought iron tire, of locomotive engine wheels, 
is one-eighth of an inch per annum, (see same treatise, p. 179) equal to one- 
fourth of an inch in two years, which will, therefore, be about the limit of 
duration of the tire of these wheels. 

The wheels of the common cars will be subjected to about half the weight, 
and be of three-fourths the diameter of the locomotive wheels, and will, 
therefore, last 2 x2 xi = 3 years use when the tire is malleable iron. Cast 
iron would wear only one-fifth part as long, (see same treatise, p. 179) but 
when cast in chills, the wheels will wear many years, say from 5 to 10 
years, according to the degree of hardening communicated. (See same trea¬ 
tise, p. 69.) t 

Now, supposing one-fourth of an inch of wear to be admissible for the rails, 
and that the quantity of traffic is great, and such that the ratio of the 
wearing of the wheels to that of the rails is 50 to 1, then, if the malleable 
tire of the wheels should only last two years, the rails will last 100 years. 
But, although atmospheric action is scarcely perceptible in its action to dete¬ 
riorate the rails of a railway in use, (see N. Wood’s Treatise, p. 48,) yet 
they cannot be supposed to be altogether exempt from such action. We 
will, therefore, assume that the deterioration from this cause will equal that 
from the action of the wheels, and the probable duration of the rails will 
be 50 years. _ 



£08 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

An experiment with regard to this subject is reported to have been made 
upon the Stockton and Darlington railway, (see N. Wood’s Treatise, p. 
472) showing the loss of weight of a malleable iron rail fifteen feet long, 
weighing 1365 lbs., to have been half a pound in one year. If, therefore, 
as is probable, this rail would not be unfit for use until it had lost one-tourth 
of its original weight, or 34 lbs., its duration, in that case, would be 68 
years. 

After the rail shall become unfit for use, there will remain three-fourths of 
the original weight to be sold as old iron, and would probably be worth 
one-third of the prime cost. 

In the absence of further experience, therefore, the assumption of 50 years, 
as the probable duration of the rails, would not appear to be too favorable. 


No. 5. 

Repairs of double Railway , length one mile; construction , wood strings , 

and sleepers. 


The perishable materials will consist of— 

1. Iron rails, each 15 feet long, inches wide, and |th inches thick, 44 tons, 

at $50 per ton, = $2,200, to which add, for turnouts, &c., 5 per cent., 
making S2,310, and to be renewed in 50 years. 

2. Iron plates under the joinings of the rails, and spikes to fasten down the 

rails, $350, plus 10 per cent, for turnouts and waste, amounting to 
$3S5; to be renewed in 12 years. 

3. Scantling 6 inches square for string pieces, 63,360 feet, board measure, 

plus 10 per cent, for turnouts, waste, and for keys= 69,696 feet, at $20 
per M. = $1,394; to be renewed in 12 years. 

4. Sleepers of wood, in number 2,640, plus 160 for waste and for turnouts 

= 2,800, at 20 cents=$560; and to be renewed in 12 years. 

Now, the annual charge of these respective items will be measured by 
the annuities, which, being yearly invested ,together with the accruing inte¬ 
rests, will amount to the several sums required at the time the repairs are 
to be made. To insure the investments,, the interest has been calculated at 
five per cent, per annum. 

The annual charge for these four items and for labor, will, therefore, be 
as follow: 

1. Annuity amounting to $2,310 in 50 years, - - SI 1 04 

2. Do do S385 in 12 years, - 24 18 

3. Do do $1,394 in 12 years, - 87 57 

4. Do do $560 in 12 years, - 35 18 

Transportation and distribution of 

materials, - $500 

Re-laying the railway, at $5 per rod, 1,600 
^ Superintendence and contingencies, 400 


•fe; 


§-5. 


2,500 in 12 years, - 157 04 

Annual charge for renewing the railway, - $315 01 
6. Opening ditches and making other miner repairs, per annum, 185 00 


Total, 


S500 01 









209 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

No. 6. 

Abstract of commodities , and number of passengers transported on the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , from the 1st January to the 25tk 
February, 1832, inclusive , viz. 

Westward. 


Lumber, - 

Coal, - 

Iron, - 

Grain, - 

Groceries, plaster, bricks, &c. &c., 


Eastward. 


Tons, 128 0 0 0 

- 229 000 

- 107 13 0 0 

68 11 0 0 

- 561 12 0 0 


Tons, 1,094 16 0 O 


Flour, 33,800 bbls. 

Whiskey, 223 “ 

Firewood, - 

Timber, (for mechanical purposes) 
Tanners’ bark, 

Iron, - 

Nails - 

Granite, - 

Wheat, 

Rye, 

Corn, - 

Shorts and shipstuff, 

Pork, - 

Tobacco, - 

Furniture, leather, lime, glue, &e. 3 


- Tons, 

3,259 

5 

2 

0 

- 

33 

15 

0 

0 

- 

2,481 

0 

0 

0 

- 

18 

1 

0 

0 

- 

9 

0 

0 

0 

- 

138 

16 

0 

0 

- 

29 

18 

0 

0 

- 

647 

16 

0 

0 

- 

14 

7 

0 

0 

- 

41 

11 

0 

0 

- 

34 

5 

0 

0 

- 

54 

IS 

0 

0 

- 

5 

15 

0 

0 

- 

1 

14 

0 

0 

- 

31 

15 

0 

0 


6,801 16 2 0 


Total tonnage, 7,896 12 2 0 


Passengers. 

Westward, - 2,352£ 47fi0 

Eastward, - 2,408$ 9 

Office of Transportation 
Balt, and Ohio Railroad. 

W. WOODVILLE, 
AudW and Sup’t B. fy 0. Railroad. 


No. 7. 

Observations upon the cost of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. 

Brick making accounts. —The greater part of these bricks are fast using 
in the building of the Manchester warehouses, offices, &c. and some in com¬ 
pleting the bridges at each end of the line. 

27 







210 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


Bridges. —The foregoing description of the several bridges, in a tabular 
form, I have thought would not be uninteresting, as affording a popular view 
of the kind of structures that may be expected to occur in similar undertak¬ 
ings. It will be seen that several of the bridges are unfinished, though fast 
approaching their completion. For this purpose, a fund is reserved, as per 
the estimate below. 

Chat Moss. —Under this head is comprised the earth work from Bury- 
lane bridge to Legas occupation bridge, on the east border of the Moss, a dis¬ 
tance of 4f miles. The embankments in this space consist of 277,000 cubic 
yards of moss earth, in the formation of which about 677,000 cubic yards of 
raw moss have been used; the difference in measurement being occasioned by 
the squeezing out of the superabundant water, and consequent consolidation 
of the moss. The expenditure on this district has been less than the average 
expenditure of the rest of the line. 

Cuttings and embankments. —Under this head, is comprised the earth 
work on the whole line, exclusive of the Chat Moss district. The cuttings 
somewhat exceed the embankments, the surplus is principally deposited along 
the border of the great Kenyon cutting. The excavations consist of about 
722,000 cubic yards of rock and slate, (including some side cuttings at Ec- 
cles to expedite and improve the consistency of the Barton embankment) 
and about 2,006,000 cubic yards of marie, earth, and sand. This aggregate 
mass has been removed to various distances, from a few furlongs to between 
three and four miles, and no inconsiderable portion of it has been hoisted up 
by machinery, from a depth af 30 to 50 feet, to be deposited on the surface 
above, either to remain in permanent spoil banks, as at Kenyon, or to be af¬ 
terwards carried to the next embankment, as at the deep cutting through 
Olive mount; the process in this latter case being rendered expedient from 
considerations of increased expedition. Where land for the deposite of spoil 
banks has been purchased, the cost of the land forms part of the expenditure 
under this head, and a good deal of substantial and lofty walling in the deep 
cuttings is also included. The unavoidable expense of pumping out the wa¬ 
ter from the several cuttings on the line, during a wet season, was adverted 
to in the text. 

Formation of the permanent road. —This consists of what is termed 
ballasting the road, that is, depositing a layer of broken rock and sand about 
two feet thick, viz. one foot below the blocks, and one foot distributed between 
them, serving to keep them firm in their places. Spiking down the iron 
chairs to the blocks or sleepers, fastening the rails to the chairs with iron 
keys, and adjusting the railway to the exact width, and curve, and level, 
come under this head of expenditure. 

Iron rail account. —This expenditure comprises the following items: 
Rails for a double way from Liverpool to Manchester, with occasional lines 
of communication and additional side lines at the different depots, being 
about 35 miles of double way, = 3,847^008, at prices averaging something 
less than £12 10s. per ton - - - - £48,000 0 0 

Cast iron chairs, 1,428 tons, at an average of £10 10s. - 15,000 0 0 

Cost of spikes and keys to fasten the chairs to the blocks and 


the rails to the chair - 
Cost of oak plugs for the blocks 
Sundry freights, cartages, &c. &c. 


3,830 0 0 
615 0 0 
467 0 2 


£67,912 0 2 







[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


211 


Land. —This is a heavy item of expenditure. The price of land in the 
vicinity of large towns is usually high, and the outlay was farther enhanced 
by numerous claims for compensation, owing to the prejudice which, a few 
years since, existed against railways, and especially against what now appears 
their peculiar recommendation—the locomotive engine. A great change has 
taken place in this respect. At the close of 182S, the charge under this head 
was nearly £102,000, but a portion of this amount, being for the depots, has 
been transferred to the carrying department. 

Office establishment. —This comprises the salaries of treasurer and clerks, 
office rent, stationery, printing, &c. since October, 1824. 

Stone blocks and sleepers. —Out of the 31 miles, about 18 are laid with 
stone blocks, and 13 with wood sleepers, oak orjlarch; these latter being laid 
principally across the embankments, and across the two districts of moss. 
A considerable quantity of wood sleepers have been destroyed, unavoidably, 
in the progress of the work. 

Surveying account. —This comprises the cost of surveys, plans, &c. for 
the two applications to Parliament in 1825 and 1826; also, the salaries of the 
engineer and principal assistants, stationery, &c. from the commencement of 
the undertaking. 

Travelling expenses. —This includes the cost of sundry journeys and de¬ 
putations to London, Darlington, Newcastle, &c. since 1824; also the costof 
journeys of inspection on the line of railway during the progress of the 
works. 

Tunnel compensation account. —This consists of compensation paid to 
parties under whose premises the Liverpool tunnel is excavated, for damage, 
either real or supposed; and, farther, of loss sustained on the resale of sundry 
houses and lands which the company were required to purchase. There 
will be a credit to this account, for premises resold, to the extent of about 
£2,500. 


TVagon account. —This expenditure is principally for wagons used in the 
progress of the work. There will be a credit to this account from the resale 
of such wagons as cannot conveniently be adapted to the future purposes of 
the railway, and by a transfer of the remainder to the carrying department, 
at their estimated value. It will be observed that the statement of expendi¬ 
ture is up to the 31st of May, 1830; the railway, however, will require a far¬ 
ther outlay to render it complete, though the locomotive engine has passed 
over every foot of ground from Liverpool to Salford. The slopes of the cut¬ 
tings want dressing, and several of them want protecting with foot walls. 
Thepermanent roadway is not quite finished, and some portions that have 
been laid down require adjusting and re-leveling. The fencing, also, in por¬ 
tions of the line, will be incomplete for some time. 

The Directors, in their report dated 25th March last, estimated the total 
expenditure, including warehouses, machinery, and carriages, at £820,000, 
which may be apportioned as follows: 

Expenditure as above, in actual payments, to 31st May - £739,165 5 0 
Outstanding engagements to the same date - 
For walling the slopes in sundry places, and completing per¬ 
manent road - 

For completing the bridges, including the Irwell, £6,000, and 
parapets of the Saukey viaduct £1,400, and compensation 
in lieu of bridges ------ 

Additional engines, wagons, and machinery, part under con¬ 
tract for delivery ------ 


7,500 0 0 
6,750 0 0 


9,500 0 0 


17,000 0 0 


212 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Completing stations, wharves, warehouses, &c. 
Fencing at sundry places 
Contingencies • 



- 25,000 0 0 

3,000 0 0 

- 12,084 0 0 


^820,000 0 0 


Washington, March 17/A, 1832. 

I now enclose an account of the increase of the trade and income of the 
Liverpool and Manchester railway, being a comparison of that of the two half 
years of 1S31, and which I mentioned it was my desire to obtain and have add¬ 
ed to the essay already sent by thee to Gen. Mercer, the chairman of the com¬ 
mittee. It consists of an extract from No. 11 of the “ American Railroad 
Journal;’’ D. K. Minor, New York, 10th March, 1832. 

My request is that the enclosed paper, already described, may be added 
to my document No. 7, in the character of a note to it. 

Very respectfully, 

J. KNIGHT. 

Hon. B. C. Howard. 


Extract from No. II of the “ American Railroad Journal:” D. K. Mi¬ 
nor, New York , 10/A March , 1832. 

Liverpool and Manchester Railway. 

It appears from the following statement, taken from the report just print¬ 
ed and circulated amongst the proprietors of the Liverpool and Manchester 
railway, that the trade and revenue are increasing rapidly: 

V ' - r ~n< \ I • 

During the half year, ending 30th of June last, there were 
convtyed between Manchcester and Liverpool 

During the half year, ending 31st December last, sent 

Increase - - - - 


Goods for Bolton and other parts of the road, during the 
half year ending the 30th June - 

Goods for Bolton and other parts of road for the half year 
ending 31st December - 

Increase ------- 


Coals to Liverpool for the half year, ending 30th June 
Do do for do do 31st December 


Increase - 


Being an increase of 25,847 tons, or 50 per cent, upon the last, as compar¬ 
ed with the preceding half year. 


Tons of goods. 

35,S65 

50,234 

14,369 tons. 

6,827 

12,997 

6,170 tons. 

2,SS9 

8,197 

5,308 tons. 















213 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


As respects passengers, an opinion was pretty generally entertained that, 
as soon as the novelty of steam conveyance had ceased, the number of pas¬ 
sengers would fall off. The report, just circulated, shows a very different 
result. 

Passengers entered in the company’s books during the half year, 
ending 30th June ------ 188,726 

Passengers entered in the company’s books during the half year, 
ending 31st December last, being - 256,321 


Increase 


67,595 


Being upwards of 33 per cent, increase for the last six months beyond the 
first six months of the year, and upwards of 135 per cent, increase on the 
travellers, between the two towns, during the corresponding months previ¬ 
ously to opening the railway. 

As respects the revenue, this has increased, of course, very considerably. 


The revenue from coaches for half the year, ending 30th 
June ------- 

The revenue from coaches for the half year ending 31st 
December last ------ 

Increase ------ 

The revenue for merchandise for half year ending 30th 
June,'was ------ 

The revenue for merchandise for last half year 

Increase 

The revenue from coal for half year ending 30th June, 
was ------- 

The revenue from coal for the last half year - 

Increase - 

Making a total increase upon the last half year, as com¬ 
pared with the preceding, of - 


£. 


d. 


43,600 

7 

5 

58,229 

5 

0 

14,628 

17 

7 

21,875 

0 

1 

31,085 

18 

4 

9,210 

18 

3 

218 

6 

0 

692 

10 

7 

474 

4 

7 

24,314 

0 

50 


No. 8. 


Communication from the President of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail¬ 
road Company to the Legislature of Maryland , enclosing surveys 
and estimates of the Railroad from Baltimore to Washington. 

Office of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, 

February 21 , 1S32. 

Esteemed Friend: The Legislature of Maryland having, at the last ses¬ 
sion, passed a law authorizing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company 
to lay out, survey, locate, and construct a railroad from some point on the 















214 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

Baltimore and Ohio railroad already constructed, within eight miles of the 
city of Baltimore, to the line of this State, adjoining the District of Colum¬ 
bia, in a direct line towards the city of Washington, along the most direct and 
suitable route that might be reasonably and conveniently practicable, the 
directors of this company were desirous of ascertaining, as well the facilities 
which the intermediate country between the cities of Washington and Balti¬ 
more afforded for the location of a direct and efficient railroad, as also the 
probable cost of the construction of such a road in a manner worthy of its 
position, between the principal commercial city of this State and the Capitol 
of the United States, and as a part of the great highway between the south¬ 
ern and eastern States, in order that it might be ascertained whether this 
company could undertake to avail themselves of the authority granted by 
the law here referred to. As early, therefore, after the passage of this act, as 
their chief engineer could be spared from the important duties in which he 
was then engaged in relation to the location of the route for the railroad 
between Baltimore and the Potomac river, t^e board directed that officer to 
proceed, with all his assistants, to make the necessary examinations, sur¬ 
veys, and estimates, and report the results as soon as practicable. After a 
most careful and assiduous attention to the duties assigned to him, the engi¬ 
neer has completed the general preliminary surveys and estimates; and I now 
have the pleasure to enclose to thee a copy of his report, which I respect¬ 
fully request may be laid before the House of Delegates. 

By this report, it will be seen that a sum exceeding fifteen hundred thou¬ 
sand dollars will be necessary for the construction and completion, in a com¬ 
petent manner, of such a railroad as will be adequate to effect the great ob¬ 
ject contemplated; and the experience of the directors justifies them in re¬ 
posing the fullesUconfidence in the correctness of the report in all its details 
and estimates. 

It may be proper for me to add, for the information of the Legislature, that 
the sum that appears to be necessary for effecting this most desirable im¬ 
provement, greatly exceeds the amount which the directors feel themselves 
authorized, at this time, to divert from the principal object contemplated by 
the company, and to effect which they were incorporated—the connexion of 
the principal commercial city of Maryland, by an easy, speedy, safe, and 
cheap mode of intercommunication with the western States—an object of the 
first importance to the prosperity of Maryland. At the same time, the direc¬ 
tors cannot but consider a similar intercourse between Baltimore and the 
Capitol of the Union as second only in importance to this great object, and 
in fact as properly forming a part of it, since its early accomplishment would, 
in an eminent degree, contribute to secure the accomplishment of the prin¬ 
cipal work—a work which, when completed, will be amongst the most 
magnificent, as well as extensively useful improvements, ever accomplished 
by human efforts. Such a work is, therefore, peculiarly deserving of the 
further aid and patronage of the State, more especially as the assistance al¬ 
ready accorded has been productive of so much benefit, and has enabled the 
company to afford a demonstration that has resulted in the most satisfactory 
assurance of its certain and triumphant accomplishment. 

Permit me then, respectfully, but earnestly, to ask the favorable attention 
of the Legislature to this subject, so vitally important to the welfare and pros¬ 
perity of the citizens of Maryland. The aid of the State will ensure the 
construction of a railway between Baltimore and Washington, of the capa¬ 
cities described in the report herewith transmitted. At an early period, a 


215 


[ Doc. No. 101. 1 

portion ot the funds necessary will be cheerfully furnished by the individual 
stockholders, and it is believed that the city of Baltimore will as readily 
furnish another part. The liberal encouragement we have already experienc¬ 
ed from the Legislature, and the great benefit which must result to the State 
from the execution of the proposed work, will not permit a doubt but that 
the representatives of the people of Maryland will also promptly contribute 
to it accomplishment, and that they will not suffer the energies of this com¬ 
pany to be paralyzed for want of patronage and support. 

With the assurance of my high regard and esteem, 

I am, very respectfully, 

Thy friend, 

P. E. THOMAS, President, 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. 

The Hon. Richard Thomas, 

Speaker of the House of Delegates. 


REPORT. 

Engineer’s Office, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
Baltimore, February nth, 1832. 

The calculations and estimates of the probable amount of expense that 
will be required in the construction of the contemplated railroad to connect 
.the cities of Washington and Baltimore, having just been finished, I take 
the earliest occasion, in accordance with thy request, to communicate the 
general results. 

In the first place, however, it may be proper to give a concise general 
description of the proposed plan and profile of the contemplated railway, 
and to advert to the character of the country over which the route must be 
conducted. 

The purpose of this railway being to effect an easy and rapid communica¬ 
tion between the national capital and the third city in the Union, as well as 
to form an important and permanent part of the great inland highway that 
must, in connection with the seat of the General Government, exist, and al¬ 
ways be used, in a direction parallel to the coast, through Richmond, 
Charleston, and Savannah, to the south; and Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 
York, and Boston, to the north; it would appear to be a concern involving 
great general interests, and the benefits of which w r ould descend to remote 
generations. 

The railroad under consideration, therefore, will have a national charac¬ 
ter, and should be planned and constructed in a manner wmrthy of its highly 
important position and functions. 

To do less than this, would be to mar a great national work, to the loss 
of the investment, and to the lasting detriment of our character for science 
and enterprise. The capabilities of the road should, therefore, be such that 
no other work of any conceivable description could be brought into success- 
, ful competition with it. 

In this is involved considerations of speed and motive power, both scien¬ 
tific and practical, and these again must regard the resistances to be over¬ 
come, whether arising from friction, gravity, or the passing of curves. 
^Friction upon railways has, within a few years past, undergone great and 


i 




216 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

important reductions; and it may be that the final term to which its ratio 
has been approximating, is not yet attained. From a careful consideration 
of this important item of resistance, and assuming the average of that of the 
two best kinds of cars now in use, and making allowance for practical im¬ 
perfections in the railway, and supposing also the wheels to be three feet in 
diameter, I have no doubt that the attainable rate of the friction will be such 
as to reduce the traction on a level to less than the 30th part of the weight 
moved; but as wheels of less diameter may be employed for common cars, 
I shall assume the practical traction at an average equal to 264th. This re¬ 
sistance, therefore, will be equal to the gravity down a line of railway, des¬ 
cending at the rate of one in 264, or 20 feet per mile; consequently the incli¬ 
nations of a railway from a level should not exceed this rate. 

All motive agents, mechanical as well as animal, are capable of exerting, 
for a short time, and, occasionally, twice the power, that their regular and con¬ 
stant average work or movements require when the effect produced is a 
maximum. This has been demonstrated by the mathematician, and has 
likewise been found to accord with experience. Hence, the ascending lines 
of a road of any description should not have a grade requiring more than 
double the power necessary on the level parts of the same road. The power 
required on the ascent of the railway, at the rate of 20 feet per mile, will 
be double of that required on a level, in addition to that which will be ne¬ 
cessary to counteract the gravity of the motive agent. If, therefore, whilst 
the friction is the 264th, the ascents and descents are greater than one in 264, 
there will either be a loss of time, or else an unnecessary surplus of power 
would exist on the level parts of the railway. In either case, there will be a 
loss of effect when compared with the cost of transmit. 

Moreover, since, with the use of locomotive steam power upon this rail¬ 
way, the velocity on the level parts should be as great as will comport with 
due safety; it follows that the velocities, upon the descending, should not 
be greater than upon the level parts; and, therefore, any acceleration from 
gravity would not be useful, and could not be employed to any valuable ex¬ 
tent in this particular instance. Consequently, in descending, as well as in 
ascending, an inclination exceeding 20 feet in the mile would be disadvan¬ 
tageous. 

Although the grade had been restricted, as already mentioned, to one in 
264 as the maximum, it was still desirable that it should be less than this 
limit, and that as much of the road should be level as the surface of the coun¬ 
try to be traversed would admit of, consistently with a due regard to the ex¬ 
pense of construction. 

It was evident, that the velocities to be employed'upon this road would 
be as high as confidence and safety would permit, and that a speed of about 
twenty miles per hour must be attained, so as to perform the trip from city 
to city within two hours. This will probably require the use of a locomo¬ 
tive engine, weighing six tons, to convey a train of six cars, containing one 
hundred passengers in the time proposed; for, although the adhesion of the 
wheels of a Ah ton engine would be sufficient for the draught of this train 
upon an ascent of 20 feet per mile, yet it is doubted whether its capacity for 
the generation of steam would be adequate to the whole performance within 
the specified time. 

Taking it then for granted, that a six ton engine will be employed, and 
that the speed will be made to average twenty miles per hour, it becomes ne¬ 
cessary that the road should be comparatively straight, in order that the 


217 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

centrifugal force, in curves, may be small, and the stability of the engine 
and its train upon the rails insured; and likewise, that the unnecessary wear 
tear should be prevented, and, at the same time, the power economized. 

It was consequently concluded to make the curvatures so slight as to ad¬ 
mit of the use of locomotive engine wheels of a diameter of four or five 
feet, and so that just such engines io all respects as are now used on the Li¬ 
verpool and Manchester railway, could be run upon this road. 

The minimum radius of curvature was assumed at 1400 feet. It is now 
known, however, that the line may be so laid that the radius of curvature 
shall, in no place, be less than 2000, and, in very few places, less than 3000 
feet, whilst the ascents and descents shall not, in any part, exceed twenty feet 
per mile. 

The greater part of the experimental lines already run, with a view to this 
railway, have been traced, with a view to the limits of grade and curvature 
already mentioned, and the estimates are made for a line of this character. 

A line more nearly approaching to that of a perfectly straight and hori¬ 
zontal line would have been preferred, but the character of the country does 
not admit of it within any practicable limits of expense in the construction, 
nor would the gain in the motive power be a sufficient return for the capital 
which must be added to make any material reduction in the altitudes of the 
summits to be passed, beyond such as are contemplated in the estimates. 

The ridges crossed between the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and Bladens- 
burg, are three in number; the first divides the slopes of the Patapsco and 
Patuxent rivers; the second the two branches of the Patuxent; and the third 
the Patuxent and the Northeastern Branch of Potomac. The altitudes of 
these ridges, at the comparatively low points at which they are crossed, vary 
from 200 to 215 feet above the level of mid tide at Baltimore, and cuts, from 
40 to 50 feet in depth will be required, at the same time that the Patapsco 
and each of the Patuxents must be crossed at altitudes above them of from 40 
to 50 feet respectively 7 . It will, however, depend upon the result of surveys 
yet to be made, whether the route may be laid across the second and third 
ridges just mentioned, at points less elevated; but it is not expected, that 
this would materially reduce the amount of the estimate, as the route would 
be lengthened by' the change; yet the question will involve considerations 
connected with the moving power to an extent that should not be disregard¬ 
ed in a route of such magnitude. The Patapsco may be crossed either at an 
altitude of 50 feet, or of 66 feet above tide, according as the one or the other 
of the two places proposed shall be ultimately selected for this purpose. 

From the Patapsco to the first ridge, in a distance of about six miles, the 
route passes up the valley of Deep Run, In consequence of the uniformity 
of the extreme grade necessary to be adopted in order to gain the summit 
at an altitude of 165 feet above tide, the line is here thrown upon very rough, 
uneven ground, encountering a succession of spurs from the ridges, and deep 
indentations at the lateral small streams which have to be crossed; thus mak¬ 
ing the graduation of this part of the line very expensive. Thence to the 
head drains of the Northeastern Branch, a distance of about ten miles, the 
route continues to be equally expensive, in consequence of the cuts through 
the three ridges before mentioned, and the embankments across the valleys 
of the two Patuxents. The tributary 7 of the Northeastern Branch having 
been gained, the route for about eight miles in its descent down the valley 
of that stream, to Bladensburg, is remarkably favorable. At Bladensburg, 
the valley of the Northwestern Branch must be crossed with a long cm* 
28 


218 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 

bankment, from 30 to 33 feet in height, and thence to the line of the plat 
of the city of Washington, a distance of about four miles, the route is rough, 
and will require much heavy excavation. 

From the line of the city of Washington, the railway can be conducted to 
the General Post Office in the further distance of about two miles, upon 
such route, and to such other point as shall be agreed upon. The uncer¬ 
tainty, however, of the future position of this part of the line renders it im¬ 
possible at this time to extend the estimates to any point within the city 
boundary. 

The materials to be excavated will consist of sand, gravel, and clay; the 
latter will, probably, in places, be found to be of a hard texture, anti such 
as has been encountered on the first seven miles of the Baltimore and Ohio 
railroad. This will probably be the case along Deep Run, and also between 
Bladensburg and Washington. With these exceptions, a greater portion of 
sand and gravel may be found to obtain. Very little rock will be found in 
the whole extent of the route. 

The estimate for the graduation has been carefully made up from the de¬ 
tails cf the several excavations and embankments, with a view as well to the 
supposed degree of tenacity of the material to be excavated, as to the dis¬ 
tance it must be transported in executing the work, and the width of the 
road bed to accommodate a double railway, that is two tracks, and the ditches 
necessary for drainage. 

The masonry has been estimated on the plan of stone culverts and substan¬ 
tial stone arched bridges, without ornament or any unnecessary dressing. 
The stone will be found on the Patapsco, the two Pat.uxents, the North- 
.western Branch, and on the Potomac generally, within a distance, probably, 
of 5 or 6 miles of the site of the works to be constructed. In estimating the 
masonry, due regard has been paid to the probable expense of securing the 
foundations, the quality of the work, the quantity of the materials, the dis¬ 
tance of transportation, and the proportions of the parts. 

In estimating the cost of the railway, regard has been had to the action it 
will have to sustain, the quantity and quality of the materials to be used in 
the construction, to the necessary labor to be expended, and to contingencies 
and superintendence. 

It is confidently believed that the great ends to be expected from the es¬ 
tablishment and use of this important avenue of communication, will be at¬ 
tained, should the plan and profile, as already described, be adopted, and a 
railway suited to the action of locomotive engines, weighingsix tons, be con¬ 
structed. 

With a view to the action of such engines in high volocities, it is proposed 
to lay down rails of a description different from those on the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad. The absence of stone suitable for sills thoughout this entire 
line, renders it impracticable, in the first instance, to use that material in 
the construction; and it may be likewise remarked, that even were this ma¬ 
terial sufficiently abundant, it would be some years before the embankments 
would be sufficiently settled to receive a structure of this kind. 

These circumstances compel the use of wood instead of stone to support 
the iron rails, and it is proposed to place the sleepers or tie pieces three feet 
apart instead of four feet as heretofore, and to use string pieces of wood un¬ 
derneath the sleepers in addition to those laid upon them, in order to strength¬ 
en the track, and to prevent unequal and partial settling. These under tim¬ 
bers may be various in their dimensions, and such as are to be procured with 


21 9 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

most convenience. The upper string pieces, however, which rest upon the 
sleepers, and on which the iron rails will be placed, are proposed to be six 
inches square, of southern pine scantling, and of the best quality that can be 
obtained. The iron rails will have a continuous flat base, in width 3£ 
inches, resting upon the wood; each rail will be about 15 feet in length, and 
about 2 inches in height, so as to permit the flanges of the wheels to play 
above the base plate. These rails will be rolled of such form as to econo¬ 
mize the quantity of iron to the greatest extent consistent with utility. The 
rail will weigh about 32 pound per running yard, and it will require 50 tons 
for each mile of single track. 

With regard to the policy of estimating for two sets of tracks instead of 
one only, it may be proper to observe, that, although there is little doubt that 
the capacity of a single track, with the proposed velocities, would be suffi¬ 
cient to effect the whole of the transit that would be required upon the pro¬ 
posed railway for some years to come, yet when it is considered that re- 
pairs^wil 1 be needed, and that, for these purposes, materials must be conveyed 
for long distances on the line, and that considerable quantities of earth must 
occasionally be removed from the ditches in the long and deep cuttings, and 
transported in railway cars to supply defects in embankments, or to some 
other place of deposite, and when it is also considered 4 that two tracks would 
allow the business of the road to be performed in the day time, whilst the 
number of trains, and their hours of departure and arrival could be increased 
as circumstances should require, the belief is entertained that it will be ad¬ 
vantageous to have two sets of tracks. 

The difficulties to be overcome having been adverted to, and the plan of 
the work described, it will be proper, next in order, to give the results of 
the estimates. 

The mason work will consist of 6,357 perches of culvert masonry, esti¬ 
mated to cost $24,010, being an average of $3 771 per perch of 25 cubic 
feet, together with 32,380 perches of bridge masonary, in which arches are 
to be made. The cost of ttiis item is estimated at $215,135, or at the rate 
of $6 64^ per perch: amounting, together, to 38,737 perches of masonry, and 
costing $239,145, being an average of $6 17§ per perch. This charge is 
considerably enhanced in consequence of the estimated expense of securing 
the foundations for the works. 

The total mass of earth and other material to be excavated, removed and 
supplied, to effect the entire graduation, is calculated to be two millions four 
hundred and sixty thousand seven hundred and sixty-one cubic yards, esti¬ 
mated to cost the sum of $779,518 15, being an average of 32.39 cents per 
cubic yard. 

The length of the route included in the estimate is 29 miles. 

Summary. 

Graduation , 2,406,761 cubic yards, at $3,239, - $779,518 15 

Masonry , 38,737 perches, at $6 17£, - * 239,145 00 


Amounting to 

1,018,663 

15 

Add 10 per cent, for contingencies and superintendence, 

101,S66 

32 


1,120,629 

47 

Railway double track 29 miles, at $15,000 per mile, 

435,000 

00 

Total amount 

$1,555,529 

47 


Total amount 







220 


[ Doc, No, 101. ] 

The details of the estimate from which the foregoing results have been 
obtained, are in this office, and statements of them will be reported if neces¬ 
sary. Maps and profiles are likewise nearly completed, representing the 
several routes surveyed. 

The final location of the route of the railway can be commenced as soon 
as the weather will permit. 

In making the estimates, I have been assisted, with regard to the masonry, 
by Robert Wilson, assistant superintendent of masonry; and so far as relates 
to the structure of a track of railway, by James P. Stabler, superintendent 
of construction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. 

In the surveys, drawings, and calculations, I have been aided by Henry 
J. Ranney, Benj. H. Latrobe, and the other young gentlemen named in my 
last annual report. 

Ail which is respectfully submitted. 

J. KNIGHT, Chief Engineer. 



Extract from the report of the Committee on Railroads of the New York 

Legislature on so much of the Governor’s message as relates to that 

subject. 

Mr. Stilwell, from the Committee on Railroads, to which was referred so 
much of the Governor’s message as relales to the construction of railroads, 
and the incorporation of companies for that object, submitted the following 
report: 

The important and responsible duties assigned to your committee have 
been duly appreciated, and the zeal which animates to the discharge of trusts 
however arduous, has impelled them forward under the various difficulties 
which they have had to encounter. The brief space which is allowed in the 
daily routine of legislative duties, scarcely leaves sufficient leisure to prepare 
for the investigation of the public any document which may be a subject 
of material interest. Your committee have lost no time, however, and have 
spared no pains to meet the expectations of all. 

Perhaps no subject, since the foundation of this Government, has engross¬ 
ed the public mind to so great an extent as the one under consideration; and 
as a necessary consequence, the halls of the Legislature are crowded with 
applicants seeking permission, from the sovereignty of the State, for liberty 
to reap the rich and honorable reward which their imaginations may pic¬ 
ture as the consequence of success. 

Excitements of the character which at present pervade the public mind, 
must arise from one of two causes. Either from a settled conviction that 
the object to be obtained will be a source of profit to the stockholders and of 
the public, or from a desire to throw before the public the means by which 
speculation may be promoted, and the few enrich themselves at the ex¬ 
pense of the many: to promote the former is the province of the Legisla¬ 
ture—to discourage the latter is their duty. 

Entertaining these vieus, the committee have felt it their duty to exam¬ 
ine more minutely into the subject referred to them, than would seem, on 
first reflection, to be required; and, in the range of inquiry they have pro¬ 
posed, they will proceed to examine into the practicability of the system 
which has called forth such general and enthusiastic expressions of opinion. 

There is scarcely any more important means of advancing the prosperity 
of a country than by a good system of internal communication. The great- 


I 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 221 

er the facility of travelling from place to place, the more active will be the 
social and commercial intercourse; and, the more ready the transmission of 
all the fruits of the earth, and all the products of manufactures, the more 
rapid the extension of improvements and inventions, and the more corn- 
plete will be the dissemination of knowledge. Time is money in all 
operations requiring labor, and therefore a saving of time will be a saving 
of money. Every country embraces more or less of territory which would 
be highly valuable but for its seclusion and distance from the more populous 
districts;—by easy and quick modes of conveyance, these disadvantages are 
overcome, and the most may be made of the capabilities of a country. 

The various means which human ingenuity has devised for effecting an 
extensive intercourse in the present state of knowledge, consist of roads, 
railways, and canals. 

The enterprise of our citizens was, at an early, period turned to the first, 
and, if we may credit accounts on this subject, scarcely less anxiety was felt 
at that time to obtain grants from the Legislature for the construction of 
turnpike roads, than is now evinced to obtain railroad privileges. These 
early enterprises did not yield much pecuniary profit to the stockholders; 
nevertheless they were of incalculable good to this young but growing coun¬ 
try. The facilities of intercourse were promoted, and the general interests 
of the community were advanced. Next in succession came the desire for 
canals. The State having yielded her assent, the construction of the Erie 
canal presented at once a new and interesting view of the benefits of this 
mode of internal communication—the public mind again became engaged 
in works of internal improvement, and, to what extent this feeling prevailed, 
may be learned from the following extract taken from the message of the 
Governor in the year 1827. “ The canals, which now principally occupy 

the public attention, embrace a navigable union of the principal bays on 
Long Island—of the Delaware and Hudson rivers—of the Erie canal, with 
the east and west branches of the Susquehannah—with the Alleghany river 
—with Lake Ontario, by Great Sodus bay—with Black and St. Lawrence 
rivers, and between the latter river and lake Champlain; and even a canal 
from Lake Erie to the Hudson river, by an entire new route, has been sug¬ 
gested as practicable and expedient, and urged with great earnestness and 
energy.” At the time this message was communicated to the Legislature, 
only one charter for a railroad had been granted, and of so little importance 
was this new mode of conveyance considered, that the Governor did not 
even allude to the subject, and individuals could not be found possessed of 
means and faith sufficient to fill the stock and undertake the enterprise. 
The public have thus been led on from one useful and patriotic improve¬ 
ment to another, constantly developing new resources, and holding out for 
example and emulation some of the most bold, useful, and successful enter¬ 
prises, that any country in any age has ever witnessed. From the know¬ 
ledge we possess of the rapid advance of our fellow citizens in this know¬ 
ledge of their wants and resources, and the most efficient manner of deve¬ 
loping them, it will not be necessary for us to more than hint at the difference 
between the two last mentioned improvements. 

The object of any mode of communication is to facilitate the transporta¬ 
tion of heavy bodies from one section of the country to another. It conse¬ 
quently must be so ordered as to overcome those obstacles or irregularities, 
in the surface, which nature has placed between the points to be connected. 

The principle on which the railway operates in effecting this object, dif- 


222 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

fers essentially from that of a canal. In the latter, the body to be moved is 
sustained by the greater gravity of the fluid on which it is placed, and the 
yielding nature of the particles which compose that fluid permits the body 
to move along the surface under a moderate application of force. This fluid 
is thrown into an artificial channel, constructed for the purpose, and ranges 
through the whole extent of country to be united. In the former, the 
weight to be transported is contained on rollers or wheels, and is made to 
move under the application of a comparatively moderate force, along the 
hard and even surface of planes, either level or partially inclined. 

Upon a canal, with an extremely moderate motion, the difference between 
the weight moved and the propelling power is exceedingly great. This 
difference diminishes rapidly with an increase of velocity. The resistance 
encountered lies in the gravity of the water, a nature which it is not possi¬ 
ble to alter, or in anywise to control. 

Upon a level railway, the resistance to be encountered consists principally 
of the friction at the axles of the carriages, and the flexure of the rails, and 
is not materially affected by a change in the velocity. 

Canals are confined to comparatively low districts, on account of the 
necessity of an adequate supply of water, and of the expense and delay of 
locks and lockage. Railways may be made to traverse regions however 
elevated, and the ascents and descents are not only not limited, but they are 
overcome in a comparatively short space of time, owing to the great supe¬ 
riority which inclined planes possess over locks. 

Canals experience the change of the seasons most sensibly; the drought, 
the floods, and the frost, are serious and insurmountable impediments to 
their construction, and whether they be constructed in the frigid, temperate, 
or torrid zone, the effect of such changes cannot be avoided. 

Railways are said not to be affected by either; and certainly the two first 
cannot, operate upon them. The last has been a subject of speculation among 
the inexperienced, and, as the construction of railways in this country is of 
so recent date, perhaps we may not be enabled to rely with implicit confi¬ 
dence on such experiments as have been made. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, however, furnishes some 
evidence on this point, and would seem to put this question at rest. Under 
date of the 31st of December last, the Baltimore American says: “while 
all the communications by river and canal throughout the country are sus¬ 
pended on account of the ice, our great railroad continues in active and 
steady operation, without the least interruption or hindrance from frost , 
snow , or any other obstacle. The passenger carriages, generally full 
both ways, have traversed the line of sixty miles between Baltimore and 
Frederick, daily , since the opening of the road.” This fact tends to prove 
that railroads may be used at all seasons of the year. The difference, how¬ 
ever, between the climate of Maryland and New York, may be assigned as 
a reason for still urging this latter objection, and is certainly worthy of con¬ 
sideration. 

In consequence of the almost exclusive use of steam power on railways, 
this question, on some routes, may be one of serious import, and would re¬ 
quire close and satisfactory investigation, before entering upon the construc¬ 
tion of any road, the utility and profit of which depend solely on the busi¬ 
ness of the winter: on any other route it cannot be a matter of so much 
moment, lor if it would be a good reason to deter from the construction of 
railroads, it might be urged with much more force against canals. Many 


223 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

propositions have been made to obviate this difficulty, but as the question 
does not seem to be entirely settled by experience, the committee are not 
prepared to point out any remedy or express any opinion. They may, 
however, safely anticipate, that all obstacles which are not insurmountable, 
will be overcome by the ingenuity and enterprise of our citizens. Many 
difficulties have already been overcome, and, as the spirit of improvement 
has, by recent discovery, received a new impetus, we are warranted in the 
most sanguine anticipations of entire success. 

The first mention of railroads in England, is made in the year 1600; they 
were then made for crossing marshes, where materials could not be pro¬ 
cured for constructing a solid road; subsequently they were used for trans¬ 
porting heavy bodies for short distances, and, at .Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for 
conveying coal from the mines to the furnace. In Russia they have been 
in use for many years. The.first description of them we find in the year 
1676: they are thus described:—“ The manner of the carriage is by laying 
rails of timber from the colliery to the river, exactly straight and parallel; 
and bulky carts are made with four rollers, fitting those rails, whereby the 
carriage is so easy that one horse will draw four or five chaldrons of coals, 
and is an immense benefit to the coal merchant.” Iron tracks have since 
been substituted and used with great advantage, when an efficient and eco¬ 
nomical mode of transportation was found necessary. 

It is only within a few years, however, that any considerable attempts 
have been made to establish railways for general purposes. The entire 
success of these undertakings has fully proved the superiority of this kind 
of conveyance, and the English are now engaged in such an extension of 
their system of railroads, as promises results of the most important cha¬ 
racter. 

The aggregate length of railroads in Great Britain, including those now 
constructing, is estimated at near 3,000 miles. 

The introduction of the locomotive engine, as a moving power on rail¬ 
ways, and the extraordinary increase of speed as well as power which has 
been thereby attained, promise to work a revolution in human affairs as 
great as has been accomplished by the application of steam to the purposes 
of navigation. 

“ Twenty years ago, we believe, the mails did not travel faster than about 
seven miles an hour. Front seven miles it was raised to eight, and every 
one cried what an improvement! From eight it was raised to nine, and this 
was hailed as nothing less than < prodigious!’” Attempts are making to 
force it up to ten miles an hour, but to any thing beyond this, to a certainty, 
horse power fails us. How then shall we find terms adequate to express 
the value of a discovery that carries us at once from ten to twenty or thirty 
miles an hour? 

The experiments which have been made in England go far to prove that 
we have not yet arrived at the point where improvement in speed must 
cease. The present average of speed upon I he Liverpool and Manchester 
railway is sixteen miles' per hour. The maximum velocity, unloaded, is 
thirty-two miles per hour. With a load of thirteen tons, including many 
passengers, Mr. Stevenson’s engine, the Rocket, travelled at the rate of 
fifteen miles an hour; and the engine of Braithwaite and Erickson, of Lon- 
dan, moved at the astonishing speed of twenty-eight miles an hour. “ It 
seemed indeed,” said a spectator, “to fly, presenting one of the most sub- 
limespectacles of human ingenuity and human daring the world ever beheld. 


224 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

It actually made one giddy to look at it, and filled thousands with lively 
tear for the safety of individuals who were on it, and who seemed not to run 
along the earth, but to fly, as it were, on the wings of the wind. When 
the vehicle,he continues, “ nicely poised on springs, and covered in to 
exclude the external current of air created by its motion, you might imagine 
you were in a state of perfect rest, while you are flying along the surface 
with the speed of a racer. Then the steam horse is not apt, like his brother 
of flesh and blood, to be frightened from his propriety by sudtlen fancies 
which defy the prudence and skill of the driver. Explosion, if it takes place, 
will not injure the passengers, for they are in a separate vehicle, and the 
enginemen may be trusted with the care of their own lives. In daylight, and 
with good arrangements, travelling in the steam coach, at twenty miles an 
hour, may be much more safe, as well as pleasant, than in any ordinary stage 
coach at eight or nine. 

The practicability of railways for the transportation of passengers, has 
been proved beyond question, and, from recent experiments, no doubt can 
be entertained that every description of article will be eventually conveyed 
on rails. Even now, many companies in England, owning the most pro* 
fitable canals in the Kingdom, contemplate draining them, and laying rail¬ 
ways on their site. Should they do so, it will be a very strong evidence of 
the superiority of railways over canals in the transportation of bulky ar¬ 
ticles. 

From the experiments made on the Liverpool and Manchester railway 
for the purpose of ascertaining the requisite power or weight to move a given 
body on a level railway, the following were the results: The carriages and 
weight were moved along the road at various speeds, and with 10, 15, 17, 
19 lbs. from which the following proportionate results were deduced: one 
pound moved 33 4 pounds, and kept it moving 4b miles per hour: one pound 
moved 470 pounds, and kept it moving 3 miles per hour: one pound moved 
616 pounds, and kept it moving 2b miles per hour. On the whole, the re¬ 
sults were highly satisfactory; and, from them, it would appear that the work 
of a horse on a railway, at a slow speed, may be brought to approximate 
much nearer to his work on a canal than perhaps had been generally 
imagined. Rating the powers of the horse at 150 pounds, the result will 
be equal to 41 tons, drawn by a single horse at the rate of two and a half 
miles an hour. Experiments have been made on the Mohawk and Hudson, 
and Baltimore and Ohio railroads, but the precise results have not been com¬ 
municated to the public. 

The difference in the expense of constructing railways and canals have 
been variously estimated; some put it down at one half, others at one-third, 
and again we have seen it estimated as nearly equal; but, from the know¬ 
ledge possessed by your committee, either derived from actual observation 
or indisputable authority, they are induced to believe that the cost of a rail¬ 
way is about two-thirds that of a canal through the same route. A single 
railway, or one set of tracks, with suitable turn-outs, will cost from nine to 
twelve thousand dollars. A double railway, with two complete sets of 
tracks, will cost from 15 to IS thousand dollars per mile. These estimates 
are for well constructed lines of railways, through a favorable country, and 
do not include any extraordinary difficulty. Every road which is intended 
to pass over a large extent of country, will be more or less obstructed by 
mountains,streams, vallies, &c., and in all tliese cases, the divisions of the 
road will be subject to change accordingly. The cost of that part of the 


225 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Baltimore and Ohio railroad which has been completed with double tracks, 
consisting of 6i miles, is not precisely known; but the company are of 
opinion that the average cost, to the Ohio, from the present termination, 
will fall but little short of $20,000 per mile. 

Connected, in some measure, with the cost of railways and their practi¬ 
cability, is the cost of transportation. In making a comparative estimate, 
we must always remember that time is money, and that the attainment of 
greater speed and certainty, amounts, in effect, to a reduction of expense. 
The advantages of a more speedy conveyance are often of greater value 
than the whole charges of transportation. The actual average cost of trans¬ 
portion is equal to about one dollar per ton per hundred miles, exclusive of 
the tolls, and the cost of a draft, or traction, upon a level railway, will not 
exceed a quarter of a cent, per ton per mile. And the above rate of one 
cent per ton per mile, for the whole cost of transportation, is believed to be 
entirely sufficient to cover all expenses, and afford a reasonable profit. The 
daily expense of a locomotive engine now at work on the Manchester road, 
is as follows: the hire of the engineman, four shillings; firemen, two shill¬ 
ings and six pence; coal, three shillings and four pence; oil, one shilling. 
Total, ten shillings and ten pence sterling. 

Supposing the engine to carry 30 tons, at a rate of ten miles an hour, and 
to work 12 hours each day, realizing but 10 hours’ speed, or 100 miles, 
makes the cost of traction about one-tenth of a cent per ton. 

The improvements that are constantly making in engines, leave the costs 
of construction entirely problematical, and the same may, in some measure, 
be said of the way. 

The most approved method of constructing railways, is on the plan adopt¬ 
ed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. A line of road is first 
graded, free from short curves, and as nearly level as possible. A small 
trench is then formed for each track, which is filled with rubble-stone, on 
which are laid blocks of granite or other suitable stone, (in the place of wood,) 
which will square about one foot, and of as great length as can be obtained. 
The upper and inner surfaces of each track are dressed perfectly even, as 
well as the ends of the blocks at their joinings. Bars, or plates of wrought 
iron, near an inch in thickness, are then laid upon these blocks or rails, in a 
line with the inner surfaces, and fastened to the stone with iron bolts or 
rivets, entering about four inches in holes fitted to receive them, and at a 
distance of about 18 inches. The distance between the two tracks, for the 
wheels, should be about five feet. 

The railway cars or carriages are fitted] with iron wheels, which, being 
cast in a chilly afford surfaces like hardened steel. Each wheel has a flange, 
or projecting rim, of about one inch in depth, which runs below the rail- 
plates on the inner side of the tracks, and which effectually prevents the 
wheels from leaving the rails. 

This mode of construction, both of ways and cars, is now supposed to ex¬ 
ceed any other; and when the stone can be obtained to answer the purpose 
at reasonable expense, no wood is made use of in the construction of ways. 
This, it will be perceived, renders the work proof against dilapidation, and 
creates but a trifle more expense. 


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[ Doc. No. 101. J 


229 


EXTRACTS 

FROM THE 

MEMORIAL OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL COMPANY, 

(Being Document No. 18 of the 1st Session of the 22d Congress.) 

DEFERRED TO IN THE RESOLUTION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF 
THE 17tH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1832. 


The relative cost of the construction of Railroads and Canals , the com¬ 
parative expense of transportation thereupon , and of their respective 
annual repairs. 

It is believed that these interesting topics of inquiry have recently had 
new light shed upon them by facts and authorities entitled to the highest 
confidence. 

Some of these, with the conclusions to which they lead, nave been alrea¬ 
dy briefly noticed. Others are embodied in the following note, an apology 
for which, it is hoped, will be found in the intrinsic difficulty, novelty, and 
importance of the investigations which it undertakes, and the growing anxi¬ 
ety of the public to be correctly informed in relation to the various subjects 
which they necessarily involve. 

In all cases where practicable, the language of the authorities cited will be 
found to be employed, with a view to insure greater confidence in the con¬ 
clusions at which the memorialists have arrived. 

Extract from the report of the Board of Managers of the Lehigh Coal 
and Navigation Company,presented to the stockholders on the 12th 
January , 1829: 

“ The railroad continues an effective auxiliary to the business of the com¬ 
pany, and, being located upon a plane descending in the direction of the 
load, and requiring no expensive or complicated machinery in its use, ap¬ 
proximates, in facility of transit, to a small canal; and, whenever an en¬ 
larged business shall require the construction of another track, the peculiar 
advantages presenting for its location wilt insure its effects to be fully com¬ 
mensurate with the most extended prospects of trade. The report of the 
engineer will exhibit the progress of the improvements on the Lehigh, and 
what still remains to be done; from which it will appear that the whole can 
be completed in the early part of next season, and will then furnish a navi¬ 
gation from Mauch Chunk to Easton, made up of thirty-seven miles of canal 
and ten miles of slack water pools, having five feet depth of water, and a 
well constructed towing path the whole distance. The canals are tixty feet 
in width on the top water line, with locks twenty-two feet wide, and one 
hundred feet long, and fed, at eight separate points, by substantial dams 
across the river. These, besides furnishing an ample supply of water for 
all the purposes of navigation, will also afford important water power in ad¬ 
vantageous positions, especially the one at Easton, which has already begun 
even to attract the attention of manufacturers.” 



230 


[ Doc. No. 101 e ] 

To the annual report, from which the preceding extract is made, is ap¬ 
pended the following report of the acting manager, Josiah White: 

« That the railroad to the company’s mines, notwithstanding it was put 
up in such an expeditious manner, and was the first made, of such a magni¬ 
tude in our country, continues to answer the desired purpose, although it 
has been subject to some modifications and alterations. Since we have re¬ 
duced the velocity of travelling, from twelve to fifteen miles an hour, down 
to five and seven miles an hour , our horses and mules, which, in the for¬ 
mer rate, got and kept sick, in the latter continue healthy, notwithstanding 
their regular daily work is thirty-five to forty-five miles per day; and, so 
strong is their attachment to riding down, that, in one instance, when they 
were sent up with the coal wagons, without their mule wagons, the hands 
eould not drive them down, and were under the necessity of drawing up 
their wagons for the animals to ride in.” 

“ Perhaps some remarks on our experience with our railroad, on which 
has been transported upwards of 60,000 tons, may settle the question with 
some of our stockholders, who have doubted the policy of canalling the val¬ 
ley of the Lehigh in place of making a railroad. I, therefore, now give 
the cost of transportation on our railroad, and also on the Erie canal. Data 
for the latter, I obtained from the superintendent of the east division of the 
Erie canal, and also from a gentleman largely engaged for three years in 
the making of hydraulic lime or cement, and transporting it on one hundred 
and fifty-two miles of this canal. Both are given, without tolls, or repairs 
of road or canal. 


44 Cost of transportation on our railroad for the year 1828. 


Mules and horses cost 

- 

- 1 1-3 cent per 

ton per 

Hands - 

- 

- 1 1-3 do. 

do. 

Repairing wagons 

- 

2-3 do. 

do. 

Oil for do 

- 

1-5 do. 

do. 


Total - 3 53-100 cent per ton a mile, 
full and one way, and the whole cost divided into the distance one way 
only. 

Cost of transportation on the Erie Canal 

44 For boats of forty tons burthen, one cent per ton a mile: full loads one 
way, and returning empty. Calculated as per the railroad. 

“ Calculating on same data as above, on a boat of sixty-seven tons, such as 
will be adapted to the Delaware canal, will cost seven-tenths of a cent per 
ton a mile; and, for a boat of one hundred and thirty-four tons burthen, 
adapted to the Lehigh canal, one-half cent per ton a mile; the latter being 
less than one-sixth the cost per mile, as per our railroad, notwithstanding 
the favorable circumstances attending that railroad. 

“A railroad, well made, is attended with little expense for repairs and 
decay at first; but all its essential parts begin, though slightly, to decay at 
its existence, and its decay gradually increases to its final annihilation. 

“ A canal is attended with expensive breaches, &c. in the first instance, 
but every repair makes the work better; and most of its constituent parts 
are as durable as time. 

44 Our canal, it is believed by our engineer, will he passable by the seventh 
month (July) next. It is calculated for boats of one hundred and thirty to 



231 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

one hundred and fifty tons burthen. All the locks, aqueducts, culverts, 
&c. are laid in hydraulic lime. The ponds connecting the canal are clear¬ 
ed out in the channel fifty feet in width, and five feet deep: and all the tow- 
paths along them are faced with a permanent slope wall. In the whole line, 
I know of no part on which money is expended for ornament; but, inas¬ 
much as we were sure of a large transportation on it, money has been ex¬ 
pended to make it substantial, that might have been avoided, if the desire 
had been more to come within the original estimate of the engineer than to 
have made a substantial and permanent work. 

“ In the dryest weather of last autumn, our engineer, Canvas White, was 
on the summit between the Nescopeck and Lehigh, and, at the Lehigh, 
where it was proposed to take the water out for the supply of the canal to 
Nescopeck and the Susquehannah; and his opinion was given, that there is 
an abundant supply of water for the summit; and, since then, Mr. Robin¬ 
son, a skilful engineer, appointed by the State commissioners to examine 
those grounds, for a canal or railroad from the head waters of Schuylkill 
and Lehigh, or Broadhead creek, to the river Susquehannah, has examined 
those grounds; and I learn that the result of his examination is, that, of all 
the lines proposed, there is but one adapted for a canal navigation, and that 
one is by the Nescopeck to the Lehigh; and here, by resorting to a tunnel 
of only one hundred and seventy-five poles in length, and a dam only ten 
to thirteen feet in height across the Lehigh, at the mouth of Bear creek, the 
river Lehigh will flow into the summit. When it is recollected that it is the 
only line for a water communication north of the Blue mountains, that can 
connect the Susquehannah with the Delaware and Philadelphia, and that the 
produce of the west branch of the Susquehannah can get as cheaply this 
way as any other, and all on the north branch of the Susquehannah, cheaper 
to Philadelphia, and thus be tributary to the Lehigh canal, and the Dela¬ 
ware division of the State CDnal, the stockholders of this company, and the 
public at large, will know, ere long, how to appreciate it. The Nescopeck 
and Lehigh canal is calculated to correspond with the Delaware section, for 
boats of sixty seven tons burthen, and will cost for transportation, from 
Berwick to Mauch Chunk , from the best data I can get, about one-third 
as much per tcfn a mile as on our railroad; this, added to the advantages 
of a continuous voyage in the same boat , and with the same superintend¬ 
ing hands , (and no trans-shipment ,) from the extreme ends of the Sus¬ 
quehannah canal to Philadelphia, will, I presume, settle public opinion on 
the manner of passing the ridge of land between the waters of the Susque¬ 
hannah and the Delaware. 

“All which is respectfully submitted. 

“JOSIAH WHITE, Acting Manager 
Philadelphia , Is/ mo. 12 th, 1S29. 

Extracts from the report of the Board of Managers of the Lehigh Coal 
and Navigation Company , for the year 1830, and the Acting Mana¬ 
ger's report: 

“ The length of our line of improvement is 46! miles, and has cost, in¬ 
cluding the whole of the river improvement, from its commencement as a 
descending navigation, to its final completion, about $1,558,000; the dis¬ 
tance being divided into 36! miles of canal, and 10 miles of pools, with a 
tow path throughout the line.” 


232 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

From the Acting Manager’s report of 1829. 

** We have made some very satisfactory alterations in the railway, for the 
purpose of preventing the early decay of the timber, and jolting of the wa¬ 
gons. We now run the wagons at the average rate of about six miles an 
hour, and find this motion produces much less wear, both of the wagons and 
road, than a greater velocity. I have demonstrated to my satisfaction, that 
the wear and tear of the road and wagons is in proportion to the motion; 
and that, in the end, a motion exceeding twenty miles an hour (which we 
tried in the first months of our business) will make the transportation on 
railroads more expensive than on our graded turnpike on which the rails 
were laid.” 

In addition to the information derived from the published documents and 
reports of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, it is deemed proper 
to insert in this note the following essay in the Mauch Chunk Courier, from 
the pen of the highly respectable superintendent of that work, sustaining 
the views of the comparative advantages of railroads and canals which his 
official duty had prompted him to communicate to those in whose service he 
has long been engaged; and whose confidence he is known to have possess¬ 
ed, in an eminent degree. 

To the Editor of the Mauch Chunk Courier . 

A friend handed me, a day or two since, the “ Paterson (N. J.) Intelligen¬ 
cer,” dated 7th April, and called my attention to a long article, signed by 
John I. Sullivan, civil engineer, wherein I am made to appear the enemy of 
the public improvements now going on in our country. It would be a poor 
compliment to human nature for me to change at this time of day, after 
twenty years’ personal devotion to works of a public nature, and twice jeo¬ 
pardising my whole estate in promoting those improvements, and now take 
a contrary course. 

We began our railroad early in January, 1827, and finished in May fol¬ 
lowing. Up to this time, we transported on it more than 100,000 tons. Its 
entire length is nine miles, single tracks; its branches at the ends and side- 
lings, four miles more. The elevation of the road, from the head of the 
chute to the summit, is 767 feet, in a distance of eight miles, being an aver¬ 
age of ninety-six feet to the mile. We have not had a week’s interruption, 
from casualty, since it was finished; so that it may be called a praotical 4 road 
from its completion. The first two months’ use of the road, our wagons 
moved fifteen and twenty miles an hour, as the men who had charge of their 
descent were anxious to get through the route as soon as possible, to avoid 
the fa*igue of holding them in check by the breaks. We soon perceived 
our utter inability to keep the wagons repaired without reducing the speed, 
or be subject to cost and repairs greater than the gains made over the good 
turnpike we had abandoned; besides, the tremulous motion occasioned by the 
wagons going at those rapid rates ground the corners of the coal into pow¬ 
der, which enveloped the driver in a continual cloud of dust. 

Our railroad was new when we travelled at the high speed, and, although 
not so perfect as it might have been made, I presume it was as evenly made 
as those which are made more perfect in other respects, in the first instance, 
would be, after one year’s wear and tear from 100,000 tons per year going 
on them, at the rate of 15 or 20 miles an hour. Thirty years ago, the rail- 


233 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

roads in England, and, until very lately, had their flanges on the track of 
the road, or most of them in that way; and, as a consequence, were always 
liable to be covered with dust, dirt, &c. : ours is of the modern construction, 
and we have adapted it to ride the horses down, so that they perform two 
ordinary days’ work in each day. The only difference between our road and 
the most modern one in England, is, that their work is put together more 
evenly and stronger, to carry their locomotive engines, which weigh two 
or more times as muclras passes on our road. Our road is graded so as to 
have such a continued descent from the summit down, as for the wagons to 
descend on all parts of it by gravity. When they began to pursue this 
mode in England, I know not: ours was the first of the kind we had any 
knowledge of, and the English have not improved on it. 

I am too good a republican to fear responsibility when I see my way clear. 
I should suppose the men of science in England would be governed in their 
knowledge of facts, the same as in other places. It is but a thing of yester¬ 
day, they had any knowledge of wagons going at the rate of twenty to 
thirty miles an hour; and they had no experience to test the consequences; 
to get these motions has caused them unusual efforts. The case was differ¬ 
ent with us; we had a difficulty to go slow; and we thought wd had explod¬ 
ed the economy of a rapid motion before the English began theirs. 1 be¬ 
lieve that if a railroad was made perfectly even, and could be kept so, that 
the wear and tear would be very different from what is the every day’s expe¬ 
rience. I am so unaccustomed to see perfect articles, that I sometimes doubt 
of their being such, and they are hardly to be expected on the track of long 
roads, exposed to all kinds of weather and casualties. I have never noticed 
a long bar of wrought or cast iron of an even degree of hardness, the whole 
length, on all its sides. 

I had an interest in a wire factory at the falls of Schuylkill, which made 
half a ton of wire per day—we cut the bars into from five to eight pieces, (and 
our iron was the best we could select,) and it was a very rare thing to find 
the bars so evenly tempered as to bear reducing this small quantity without 
breaking, and, generally, in several places. 

With the utmost skill and experience of our mechanics, we do not find 
them to bore a steam engine cylinder perfect; the pistons all require pack¬ 
ing to prevent the escape of steam. I never noticed a wheel cast perfectly 
true; we cast ours in, (turned,) but they do not come out perfectly correct; 
and if they were cast or turned true, it is as difficult to wedge them on per¬ 
fectly correct: so difficult is the attainment of perfection on this side the 
grave. With these difficulties before us, I will take it for granted the wheel 
of the cars is 1-16th of an inch out of truth, and that they are three feet in 
diameter: to go thirty miles an hour, would require them to revolve 2 78 
times per minute, and the wagon and load weighing four tons, is one ton to 
each wheel: each wheel of the car strikes the road with a weight of one ton 
273 times a minute, faster, I presume, than any man can count: besides this 
evil, the materials which compose the heaviest item of expense are of a per¬ 
ishable nature, whether used or not, and wear and tear proportioned to use. 
These are some of the reasons why I believe a road will not be made perfect; 
and, if so made, will not last interminably long, like the materials in a 
canal. 

I am asked, if I could, on my experience, check the spirit of inves¬ 
tigation and enterprise that is abroad in the country ? 1 answer cer¬ 

tainly not the former, but, as to the latter, I think it only valuable when 
30 



234 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

governed by prudence, and then only it is invaluable. I recollect very 
well when the coal trade, and even the making inland navigation in our 
country, was in disgrace in the eye of the public; but neither is so now. 
The public is now extra hot in the same degree as it was extra cold for¬ 
merly. The coal trade is now large, as well as respectable, in the opinion 
of the public; but there are no doubt ten times as many in the trade, as 
many canals and railroads talked of to transport coal to market, as there 
are markets for the article. Can this, then, be an enterprise wanting a spur? 
or what can the numerous canals and railroads contemplated be worth, if 
made? A canal has two advantages over a railroad, besides the economy 
of using. Their number of sites are known, and they are limited by wa¬ 
ter; and if they are made faster than the wants of the country, occasioned 
by a feverish state of the public mind, or by an error of judgment, they 
do not decay, whether used or not, -except the lock gates, and wood work, 
of which, there is very little since hj^draulic lime has been brought into use. 

I believe that a railroad can be made strong, solid, and true enough, to not 
only admit of a speed upon it of si>f miles an hour, but even sixty miles an 
hour, for a short time; but I do not believe there will be economy in going 
more than six miles an hour with heavy loads, unless it is with passengers, 
valuable -goods, &c. which will bear heavy tolls. Our company have no 
reason to dislike railroads-—ours has undoubtedly saved $500,000 already; 
but, by our canal, we now go an equal distance at one-fourth the cost of the 
railroad. rBut a canal cannot be made to the mines, so we resort to the 
next best thing. 

J. L. -Sullivan says, “the Stockton and Darlington road is certainly 
kept in the best repair, and is the bpst constructed railroad now in operation 
in England. Cast rails have been tried, but malleable rails are principally 
used, and decidedly preferred by the proprietors/’ 

This road ; has been made about five years, and, since that time., they have 
condemn^fhe old plan. But what, say they, of the best English road, in 
October last? The London Mechanics’ Magazine, of Oct., 1829, page 141, 
has the succeeding observations.’ “the speed of the engines has been in- 
< creased on thp Darlington road, by substituting wheels of four feet diameter 
instead of three feet; but these, working on the plane bars, cannot be case- 
hardened* for fear they would turn round when they have a hard pull; con¬ 
sequently^ they are made of soft iron, which, from the immense weight of 
the engine, wears them in grooves the width of the rail, and twists them 
sideways,which keeps men, incessantly on the line, setting them straight.” 

So^eifind thirty years’ experience is condemned; and all that we now 
/ijavc^Wprtby of our notice, are the experiments of a few days or hours, 
arid- these are leading brother Jonathan by the nose. Thus much for the 
best railroad in England. But still, I allqw they may make them stronger, 
although not so as to prevent those effects in a greater or less degree, if a 
speedy motion is resorted to, particularly with a locomotive engine, as the 
stress .necessary to pull the lead impinges through the wheels on the road, 
and thus the joints of the road are pulled together between the wheels of 
the,engine and the cars, so as to keep up an incessant action in the fails, 
j. Jj. S. gives us credit for constructing our railroad at $1500 per mile; no 
one has the company’s authority for this; our statement was $3,050 a mile, 
and most of it was laid on an old turnpike and single track. 

The Manchester and Liverpool railroad is not a fair comparison for other 
railroads; neither is the novelty engine justly cited, as a standard, by 


235 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

which others are to be judged. The quantity of valuable merchandise 
passing between the two towns is said to be 1200 tons daily; and the passen¬ 
gers only, it is supposed, will produce $111,112, per year. The whole 
length of this road is but 32$ miles. They can, therefore, afford to con¬ 
struct it in a manner approaching as nearly to perfection as possible. The 
Novelty has had but a limited trial; our last accounts made it amount to a 
period of about six hours. It would hardly be prudent to invest millions on 
a thing that was not as durable as Jonah’s gourd. It may do well: it is a 
neat affair enough; but it would be safer to wait a year or more before we 
pronounce it entitled to full faith, or consider it of such amazing utility, 
with no other data for our decision than the result of six hours’ experiment¬ 
ing. Its boiler carries but 36 gallons of water, which is the main cause 
of its lightness. To produce the requisite steam, the evaporation must run 
rapidly from this 36 gallons of water; and if the supply pump does not corres¬ 
pond with the making of the steam for a few moments, a blow up is the in¬ 
evitable consequence. 

To compare railroads and canals by dollars and cents, as far as we have 
practice and experience for our guide, will, no doubt, be coming nearer the 
point the public desire to attain. And whether it is gratifying to some or 
not, we, I trust, will all find that economy in the use of the improvements 
resorted to, is the one thing needful, which the public at large is most in¬ 
terested in having accomplished. 

The annexed calculation is estimated from the cost, &c. oftheMauch, 
Chunk road. But that part of it only, from the summit of Mauch Chunk 
being eight miles, descending the entire distance, and the whole owned by a 
single company, (so that we are exemptfrom the interference of neighbors,) 
it is presumed can compare* in its use with the minimum cost of a first 
rate railroad under the most favorable circumstances. 

Estimate of the repairing , fyc. of the perishable part of the railroad 
with double tracks. 

For one mile, 20 tons plate iron, cost for iron and laying down, $2,000; 

last, say 20 years ------ $100 00 

Wood for rails and sills, 126,720 feet at$15 - $1,900 50 

Carpenters’ work say - - - 1,900 SO 

$3,801 60 

$3,801 60 last six years-h6 = 633 66 
One man repairing road to each mile, 250 days - - 250 00 

Cost of repairing one mile per year » - - - $983 66 

If the transportation be 100,000 tons, it is, say one cent per mile; and 
the repai rs increase with the increase of the use of the road. 

Wear and tear, or renewing of the railroad wagons, they lasting 4 years. 
42 wagons (load a boat) cost - - - - - $4,200 

7 mule wagons - - - - - 350 

* 4,550 

Last four years, is $1,137 50 per year. 
225 days in the season, and 32 cwt. each wagqn going two trips a day, is 

134 tons 8cwt. a day, or 30,240 tons a year-r-1137 50 = 3.76 — 9=42.100 







236 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Making daily repairs to wagons, three hands, 225 days - $ 675 

Materials for repairs ------ 1,350 

Annual cost of current repairs - 2,025 

2,025-t- 9 miles= $225-^30,240 tons is per ton a mile, 74-100 of a cent. 
Total repair of wagons 1 16-100 cent per ton a mile. 

Cost of hands and animal power from the summit to the end of the road, 
descending all the way: 

28 mules go two trips a day, and draw up 42 coal and 7 mule wagons (to 
carry down the mules) each trip, &c. going 32 miles a day, the 42 wagons, 
each carry 32 cwt. coal each trip. Total 134 tons. 

28 mules at 33 cents a day, - - - $9 24 

4 drivers, 90 do - - - 3 60 

12 84-7-134= 10 ctSo 
for S miles, or li cents a ton a mile. 
This 1^ cent a ton a mile is the nett cost , without any contingencies; the 
cost last year was 17^ cents for 8 miles, being,, say 2 cents. The difference 
between the two was made up of the superintendent of the railroad, hands 
assisting to provide for the animals, lost time through the season, keeping 

animals in the winter, &c. making the whole cost, at a close estimate, 

4 16-100 cents a ton a mile, exclusive of interest account and grease. 

Canal estimates of transportation and repairs of canal . 

The boat carrying 75 tons makes a trip loaded, down to E^aston, 46 miles, 
and returns empty in 4\ days. 

3 men at 90 cents. = 270 x4£ days=-12 15 

2 horses and rope, 85 cts. =170 x4h days= 7 65 

Boat, 70 cents a day, 4% days= 3 15 


(Boat cost $700, and last 1,000 days) 22 95 

$22 95~75 ton=30 60-100-^46 miles=a ton a mile 665-IOO. 

Wear and tear of the canal. 

The lockage from Mauch Chunk to Bristol, in tide, is 524 feet, which, 
with 8 feet lifts, is 66 locks, distance 106 miles; 66 locks will require their 
gates renewed every 10 years, and the cost of a set of gates, say 
$500 x 66 = S33,000-h 10 for their duration, is per year, 

$3,300-7-106 miles, per mile, - $31 13 

52 hands, 250 days, being 1 hand to 2 miles, repairing, (after 8 years’ 

duration) is, a mile, - - - - - 125 00 


156 13 

100,000 tons-i-$156 13-100= 1£ miles, or 15-100 a mile, which, added 
to 621-100, makes the total cost of transportation by canal, including wear 
tfnd tear of canal, 81^ 100 cents a ton per mile, exclusive of interest. 

Our present cost of transportation on our canal, in rough arks , is, per 
ton per mile, ------ 1 cent 

To which add the wear and tear of canal, as above, do do 15-100 


Total cost, at present , per mile, per ton, 


1 15-100 








[ Doc. No. 101. ] &S7 

Hence, it appears that our canal, used in the ordinary way, will costless 
than one-fourth of a first rate railroad. 

It may be observed, that I have not noticed the cost of lock gate keepers; 
this was omitted, because the water power passing from one level to the 
other to keep them up, will produce a revenue greater than their pay. 

There are two items, not heretofore taken in account, that will lessen the 
cost of transportation on the canal, where there is plenty of water as in the 
Lehigh and Delaware, viz. one is, that, as the freight is mostly down¬ 
wards, half the power may he saved by letting a current pass down the 
canal; the other is, that, by using propellers, and having two locks at each 
lift, one for ascending and the other descending, we can save all the animal 
power by substituting water power , and one-third of the hands; thus re¬ 
ducing the cost of transportation about one-half. Our railroad friends must 
allow us to avail ourselves of improvements in canals, if they take that course 
in railroads. But, in making my estimates, I have endeavored to consider 
what expenses have occurred, rather than what may occur; for many of our 
supposed improvements oft times prove injurious, rather than beneficial, to 
those who have been at the trouble and expense of making them. 

JOSIAH WHITE. 

5th mo. 20, 1830. 


The following are extracts from letters of Mf. White, to a distant corres¬ 
pondent: 

“Mauch Chunk, 3d mo. 5th, 1830. 

“ Railroads are a great improvement on turnpikes; but, in my opinion, 
are vastly inferior fparticularly as a public work, and in a republican coun¬ 
try) to canals, both as to convenience as well as economy. A canal is ac¬ 
cessible every where, a railroad nowhere, (without interrupting the current 
of wagons,) except by an arrangement for turning out; and the more turn 
outs are made, the greater the casualties. By canal, every boatman may 
choose his own motion, within the maximum motion; by railroad, every 
traveller must have the same motion, or be subject to turn outs; which, as 
I have said, have their casualties. The motion of twenty and thirty miles 
an hour on railroads will be fatal to wagons, road, and loading, as well as 
human life. 

44 We have a distance of eight miles from the mines, with a descent of 
seventy to one hundred and twelve feet in a mile. The velocity of the 
wagons would exceed thirty miles an hour, if not checked. Our first two 
months’ use of the road was fifteen and twenty miles an hour, which would 
have soon ruined both road and wagons, and, I am persuaded, was then 
dearer than the turnpike we put our rails on. 

“ Our present motion, say of six miles an hour, is very satisfactory: and 
makes the railroad an immensely valuable appendage to our .coal business. 
Wet or dry, we go on it; moist and wet weather, which ruins turnpikes, 
makes the wagons run freer on the railroad; snow, however, is an impedi¬ 
ment. Our wagons will not run down from the mines, by gravity, in a 
snow storm; the snow packs on the road. In such weather, as well as in 
sleet} 7 weather, we cannot use the break, as it slips too freely to produce the 
necessary friction to check the wagons. 

“I think it rather fortunate for society, that railroads are not of equal 
value to canals, for a railroad can be taken anywhere; and, consequently, 


238 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

no improvements would be safe on their line: for the moment the improve¬ 
ment succeeded, it would be rivaled, so as to destroy both, &c., whereas 
we know the line and limits of our canals, by the supply of water, and gra¬ 
duation of the ground; so that all improvements thereon are safe against the 
undermining of rivals. I should consider, that, if the railroads superseded 
canals, they would, for the above reasons, render the tenure or value of pro¬ 
perty as insecure as it would be if without the protection of law.” 

“Matjch Chunk, Sdmo. 25th , 1830. 

“ Thee, no doubt, has observed the last accounts of the “ Novelty” loco¬ 
motive engine on the Manchester and Liverpool railway, stating that the 
fuel (at ten shillings sterling a ton for coke) costs but thirty-seven shillings 
sterling to carry a ton of goods round the world; and that the owners offer 
to make engines to weigh five tons, and draw one hundred tons, that shall 
not consume more than about one-third of a mill, our money, a ton a mile. 
This, no doubt, will be received as a well settled experiment in favor of 
railroads, and against canals. 

“ I suggest, if this engine is of the superior order represented, that it is 
equally adapted to canals , by having a less power, and proportioning it 
to the load it has to draw. Our canal can carry boats of one hundred and 
forty and one hundred and fifty tons. Our State canals generally carry boats 
of seventy-five tons. This power can be applied as advantageously on the 
canals as on the railroads, by having light rails on one or both sides of the 
canal for the wheels, which drive or draw the boat to rpn on, and keeping 
the engine on the boat: by which means, the engine will, no doubt, be 
made to last three times as long as if on a railroad, from the incessant jarring 
of the latter. Thee will perceive, by the tables in the books on the subject 
of railroads, that, at two and a half miles an hour, the effect from the same 
weight is 55,500 pounds by canal, and 14,400 pound by a level railway; so 
that the same engine would propel three and a half times as much on a 
canal as on a railroad, and, of course, save two-thirds the fuel, and the same 
proportion nearly of the power of the engine, in addition to its increased 
durability. 

(C With regard to engines on railroads, moving with equal weight with 
indefinite velocity, it is proved by us, and on the Liverpool railway, to be 
afalse theory; the motion invariably was reduced by adding to the weight, 
to be pulled; and the wear and tear, no doubt, is as the velocity, the weights 
toeing equal.” 


It is not deemed improper here to insert the opinion of the oldest and 
most eminent civil engineer in the United States of America, who has serv¬ 
ed more than fifteen years in the best school for all practical science, that of 
experience. 

Extract from a letter of Benjamin Wright, of New York , dated October 
31, 1S31, in reply to a letter addressed to him by the President of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company . 

“ The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company own 108 miles of canal, on 
which there are 110 locks; and also 16 miles of railroad, on which there are 5 
.steam power stationary engines to draw up coal S00 feet, and 3 self acting 
planes to let down coal about 700 feet. 



239 




[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


“ The board of directors were not satisfied that all these works, in min¬ 
ing coal, in transporting over the railroad, and along their canal, were ma¬ 
naged with that rigid and strict economy which the competition in the ar¬ 
ticle made useful and necessary for the interest of the company, and they 
appointed myself and one other gentleman to go through all their work, and 
examine into every expenditure; of what had been, as well as what, in our 
opinion, ought to be done, to economize in mining the coal, in transporting 
over the railroad and along the canal, to tide water. We had full powers 
to call on every man in their employ, and examine into every expenditure, 
in all its details, so as to report what would, in the present state of things, 
when the railroad and canal were both in good order, be a fair and proper 
charge on the coal. 


“ We spent 20 days in this duty, and made our report to the board of 
directors. We found that the expense on the railroad, not including any 
toll, would be about 3\ to 3£ cents per ton per mile; and, on the canal, with¬ 
out toll, one cent to one cent and two mills per ton per mile. We took great 
pains to get every information on all points having the least possible bearing, 
and I have no doubt the comparison is a fair one for this canal and this 
railroad. Perhaps railroad advocates may say that this is not a fair sample 
of railroad to compare with. In so far as it is loaded with 5 steam engines r 
as stationary power, to draw up coal, and 3 self-acting planes to let down, 
it has an extra charge upon it; but then the great number of locks on the 
canal causes detention and increases expenses. As the result came out so 
nearly like Josiah White’s statement on the Mauch Chunk canal and rail¬ 
road, as published in the Intelligencer some two years ago, and proved the 
correctness of that statement, and as their railroad was not subject to station¬ 
ary power, I consider the comparison a fair one on the whole.” 


Letter from the same to the same, of subsequent date. 

New York, December 17, 1 S31. 

Dear Sir: You ask me my opinion of the comparative advantages of ca¬ 
nals and railroads as applied to the Potomac valley, and the great plan of a 
connection between the eastern and western waters? 

This question presents a great field for argument, and no doubt much may 
he said on both sides. I will, however, give you my own views as applied 
to the locality in question. 

I am decidedly in favor of a canal in preference to a railroad, and more 
particularly for that part between tide water and Cumberland, and between 
Pittsburg and the mouth of Casselman’s river. As to the intermediate space, 
a question might arise whether the great amount of lockage, and the long 
tunnel, would, at present, justify the expense of a canal in preference to a 
railroad. Time, and the probable prosperity of the country, when a dense 
population should cover it, along the line and beyond it, would probably 
justify a continuous water communication over and through the mountains, 
in half a century or less. 

These are the outlines of the results of my own mind as applied to this 
case. 

I am probably, at this time, in a minority in the United States as to 
my opinions of the comparative advantages of canals and railroads. I 



240 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

have very little doubt I shall be in the majority before two years more are 
expired. 

The public mind does not, in my opinion, take all circumstances and bear¬ 
ings into consideration, when they undertake to give opinions. They hear 
of the Manchester and Liverpool railroad, and of the great effects and re¬ 
sults produced on it, but they do not know the whole ot the expenditure as 
well as the whole receipts. In this case, as well as on the Baltimore railroad, 
we are kept iri the dark about wear and tear, and shall be for some time to 
come. 

I admit that, for passengers, a railroad is a useful and rapid conveyance; 
but, in our country, and particularly in the Potomac valley, the passengers 
are a small matter compared with the products of the soil; the forests and 
mines. We know that the Erie canal has more tonnage, in lumber, than all 
other tonnage on it, and, for the article of square timber alone, this year, the 
rafts of it, which have passed, (being'rafted only 14 feet wide, so as to pass 
locks) would, if put together, stretch 50 miles. This is an article of first 
necessity, and could not come as cheap, if at all, on a railroad as on a canal. 
I may add boards, also, which are brought in boats much better than on rail¬ 
road wagons. 

But the great advantage a canal will always have over a railroad consists 
in the little mind or thought that is required to use it. Any man or boy 
can navigate a canal, but it requires much more mechanical skill to manage 
on a railroad even by horse power, and many times as much more to man¬ 
age a locomotive. I consider a long line of railroad, where the power is of¬ 
ten changed, as it must necessarily be, in passing from Baltimore over the 
mountains, as a very complicated machine; as liable to have its parts get out 
of order, at a distance from any workshop, where repairs can be made; and 
as being odious in this country, as a monopoly of the carrying, which it ne¬ 
cessarily must be. A canal, on the contrary, is open to any man who builds 
a boat, and he may travel or stop, when and how he pleases, if he does not 
interrupt the passing of others. 

In short, I place a railroad between a good turnpike and a canal. I con¬ 
sider the expense of transportation, from the little experience I have had, to 
be about in the proportion of three to one, between a canal and railroad, in 
lavor of the former, without tolls on either. All these opinions are the con¬ 
clusions of my own mind, from critical examinations of works of both kinds, 
and all the light I have been able to obtain on the question. 1 could say 
much more, but I presume what is said above is sufficient is answer to your 
question. 

With much esteem, I am, dear sir, your obdient servant, 

BENJ. WRIGHT. 

Gen. Mercer. 


Letter from John Bolton, late President of the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal Company , to the Editor of the Savannah Georgian. 

New York, July 21, 1831. 

Dear Sir: I perceive that some of the papers are endeavoring to arouse 
the people of Georgia to a sense of the importance of artificial means of 
transportation between the interior of the State and the coast. Both inter¬ 
est and good will induce me to wish them success, and, were I a young man, 



241 


[ Doc. No. 101. “] 

I should like much to take a part in executing any work that should have 
a favorable bearing on Savannah. A six years’ experience in the construc¬ 
tion and operations of the works of the Delaware and Hudson Company 
would give me some advantages; but, as it is, I can only offer my good 
wishes and any useful information that may be in my power. From the 
articles I have seen, I perceive, with some regret, that they entirely overlook 
the great natural advantages that Georgia has over most of the States in the 
construction of canals, and recommend railroads; which are the only re¬ 
source of those who do not possess facilities for canals, and who, conse¬ 
quently, endeavor to make the public believe that they are superior to ca¬ 
nals. In this they have succeeded to some extent for the present; but, hav¬ 
ing some experience of both, I am not among the converts to this new sys¬ 
tem. I give it a place between turnpike roads and canals, and feel a confi¬ 
dence that time will confirm this order; and this only in cases where the 
amount of transportation will justify the expense of a railroad. 

In a late report to the proprietors of the Liverpool and Manchester rail¬ 
road, it is stated that they had reduced the expense of transportation from 
15s. per ton by canal, to 10s. by railroad, for 32 miles. This reduced rate, 
t at 7 pet cent, exchange, is S2 37$ per ton. On the Erie canal and Dela¬ 
ware and Hudson canal, the highest rate on merchandise, including toll, 
freight, and receiving and forwarding, is 5 cents per ton per mile, $1 60 
for 32 miles; on flour, and on other articles of small value, it is still less. Flour 
does not exceed, for long distances, 3 cents per ton per mile, making only 
06 cents for 32 miles. On the Delaware and Hudson canal, a boat carrying 
30 tons costs $400; 5 per cent, per annum, will keep her in repair. It re¬ 
quires 12 wagons to carry the same weight on the railroad, cost $1,400, and 
the repairs will probably be from 15 to 20 per cent. The annual repairs of 
the canal cost about $400 per mile; the railroad about $1,500 per mile. The 
canal is getting better every year, the railroad worse. The railroad of the 
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company passes over a rough uneven country, 
and has eight inclined planes.. The wear of machinery and ropes, on these 
planes, is very expensive, and bears a greater proportion to the length of line 
that would be found in Georgia below the mountains. I have, however, no 
doubt that the annual expense of railroads will be found to be greater than is 
generally estimated. 

The greatest advantage claimed, by the advocates of railroads, over canals, 
is in the rapidity of travel; and the Liverpool and Manchester railroad fur¬ 
nishes the grounds for this claim, as the results of the Erie canal have fur¬ 
nished data on which to found similar projects; and both are equally exposed 
to disappointment. The Liverpool and Manchester road has cost $118,000 
per mile, whilst, in this country, we estimate our railroads to cost from 5 
to $12,000, and nothing is now better ascertained than thatstrength and firm¬ 
ness must be in proportion to velocity of movement; and that, to avoid the 
expense and delay of inclined planes, hills must be cut down and valleys 
filled up. These requisites cannot be attained without great expense, ex¬ 
cept in locations peculiarly favorable, but strength and firmness are indis¬ 
pensable in any location. Besides, there is one advantage claimed in favor 
of railroads in this quarter, which is not applicable to the South. The wa¬ 
ters diminish here at the period of greatest business: the reverse is the case 
at the South. Here also canals are shut by ice in winter, and then it is be¬ 
lieved railroads will continue to be used, but, from my experience, the ex¬ 
pense and difficulties will be found to be much enhanced; and where inclin- 
31 



242 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ed planes are used, so much so, as to forbid their use upon a calculation of 
profit. I write fron^ no other motive than good will towards my fellow- 
citizens of Georgia. I wish them prosperity, and should therefore regret to 
see them carried away by the fashion or mania of the day. 

The above letter appeared in the Savannah Georgian of the 25th of Au- 
gnst last. Its author is John Bolton, esq. of New York, late President of 
the Hudson and Delaware Canal Company. The letter, as the paper ob¬ 
serves from which it is copied, contains lessons of practical knowledge 
worth a thousand of the wild theories of untried experiment. 


Extract of a letter from John Bolton , Esq. of New York , late Presi¬ 
dent of the Hudson and Delaware Canal Company , to the President 

of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company , dated New York , Dec. 

17, 1831. 

“Having resigned my station in the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com¬ 
pany early in April last, the document to which you refer is not accessible 
to me. I can, however, repeat on the subject, what I stated to Mr. Haber¬ 
sham, that the Delaware and Hudson eanal is 108 miles, the railroad 16 
miles; that the toll, on coal, on the canal, was revised, I think, in January 
last, and fixed at Si 50 per ton for"the whole distance, and cn the railroad, 
at 50 cents per ton; that the expense of repairs and superintendence on the 
canal was estimated, for 1831, at about $400 per mile; and on the railroad 
at rather more than $1,500 per mile; that the railroad has S inclined planes, 
5 worked by steam engines, and three by gravity; and the canal has 110 lift 
locks, and 3 guard locks, used also as lift locks in high water; and that the 
form of country and obstacles to be overcome on the line of railroad are not 
more unfavorable for a railroad, than the canal line was for a canal; that a 
section of canal on the Delaware river, of 1 mile and S chains, cost full 
$40,000, and there are several shorter sections proportionably expensive. 
For the rest, I must beg to refer you to my second letter to Mr. Habersham. 
I may, however, add, that I corrected, on more recent information, the error 
in my first letter as to the cost of the Liverpool and Manchester railroad: 
I think I made it out to be $149,000 per mile. I have no specific informa¬ 
tion of late date in relation to railroads in England, nor have I seen lately 
any quotations of the value of canal and railroad stocks in England. There 
is, however, no doubt on my mind that railroads in England are getting the 
station which I long since assigned them, that is, between turnpike roads 
and canals. Gentlemen from that country say they are less popular than 
they have been; that, in fact, the mania is wearing off by reason of the great 
expense of maintaining them, and the machinery used on them; and it was 
recently stated that a project got up in Birmingham, had, by a resolution of 
the contributors, been suspended for six months, for the purpose of seeing 
the result^ of those then in operation.” 


Extract from the last annual report of the Pennsylvania Canal Com¬ 
missioners, to the Legislat ure of that State , dated December , 1831. 

The board have, in like manner, been frustrated in their calculations, 
by some of the contractors for laying tails abandoning their contracts. The 
difficulty of procuring stone blocks of a suitable quality has proved to be 
much more serious than was at first anticipated, and the consequence has 




243 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

been a retarding of the work, and an increase of its cost over former esti¬ 
mates. 1 he present estimate of the cost of the whole work, when complet¬ 
ed, is $2,297,120 21, being equal to $28,173 63 per mile. 

“The work is constructing upon the principles of the latest improvements 
in railroads, and in the most substantial manner; and, although the cost of 
it may appear to be large, yet, when the quality of the work, and the sum 
required to construct similar works elsewhere, are duly considered, it is, 
perhaps, as reasonable as ought to be expected. 

“ The graduation and masonry alone, of the first twelve miles of the Bal¬ 
timore and Ohio railroad, cost $46,354 56 per mile; and that whole road, 
now under contract, (being 71 miles upon the main stem of the road with 
double tracks , and a branch of 34 miles to Frederick with a single track , 
one-third of the whole road to be laid with stone rails, and the remaining 
two-thirds with wood,) is estimated to cost $1,906,853, or $27,228 per mile. 
The company, in their late report, state “that it required 65 months to lay 
down 6 miles of stone track,” and “ that the cost of laying with stone has 
been underrated in every instance.’* The celebrated Liverpool and Man¬ 
chester railroad, in England, which has been the principal cause of creating 
an excitement in public opinion favorable to that species of improvement, 
cost the enormous sum of 117,000 dollars per mile. 

“ While the board avow themselves favorable to railroads where it is im¬ 
practicable to construct canals, or under some peculiar circumstances, yet 
they cannot forbear expressing their opinion, that the advocates of railroads, 
generally, have greatly overrated their comparative value. To counteract 
the wild speculations of visionary men, and to allay the honest fears and 
prejudices of many of our citizens, who have been induced to believe that 
railroads are better than canals, and, consequently, that, for the last aix 
years, the efforts of our State to achieve a mighty improvement, have been mis¬ 
directed, the canal commissioners deem it to be their duty to advert to a few 
facts which will exhibit the comparative value of the two modes of improve¬ 
ment for the purpose of carrying heavy articles cheaply to market, in a dis¬ 
tinct point of view. 

“Flour is now carried, by the canal, to Philadelphia, from Lewistown, 211 
miles, for 62$ cents, and from Harrisburg, 150 miles, for 40 cents a barrel; 
and gypsum is taken back, for three dollars a ton, to Harrisburgh, and five 
dollars a ton, to Lewistown; therefore the freight (exclusive of tolls) is, down¬ 
wards, 142 mills per ton per mile, and, returning, 7 mills per ton per mile; 
or, on an average both ways, one cent and three-fourths of a mill per ton per 
mile for carriage. 

“ On nine miles of railroad at Mauch Chunk, and on ten miles of railroad 
between Tuscarora and Port Carbon, the carriage of coal costs 4 cents, and 
the toll on the latter road is a cent and a half per ton per mile. 

‘ ( The comparison will then stand thus: 

On ten miles of railroad between Tuscarora and Port Carbon: 

Freight per ton, 40 cents. 

Toll on coal per ton, - - 15 

— 55 cents. 

On ten miles of the Pennsylvania canal: 

Freight per ton, - - - 10! 

Toll on coal at half a cent per ton per mile, 5 

- 15! 


,394 


244 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ Being 39£ cents difference in favor of the State canal, on each ton, for 
every ten miles of transportation. 

“ The following table will exhibit the relative useful effects of horse power 
when employed on common roads, on turnpike roads, on railroads, and on 
canals. 


Four horses will draw, in addition to the weight 
of the carriage or boats containing the load, 

Weight of 

freight 

transported. 

Number of 

miles per 
day. 

On a common road, in a wagon, 

1 Ton. 

12 Miles. 

On a turnpike road not exceeding five degrees of 



inclination, in a wagon, 

11 “ 

18 “ 

On a railroad having a rise and fall of 30 feet (or 



one-third of a degree) to the mile, in S cars, 

16 “ 

27 “ 

On the Pennsylvania canal, in two boats, 

100 “ 

24 “ 


“The introduction of locomotive engines, and Winans’ cars, upon rail¬ 
roads, where they can be used to advantage, will diminish the difference be¬ 
tween canals and railroads in the expense of transportation. But the board 
believe that, notwithstanding all the improvements which have been made 
in railroads and locomotives, it will be found that canals are, from two to two 
and a half times better than railroads, for the purposes required of them by 
Pennsylvania. 

“The board have been thus explicit, with a view to vindicate the sound 
policy of the commonwealth in the construction of her canals; yet they* 
again repeat that their remarks flow from no hostility to railroads, for, next 
to canals, they are the best means that have been devised to cheapen trans¬ 
portation. They are valuable in many situations, and particularly along 
courses of great thoroughfare, which will bear the expenses of their con ¬ 
struction. They can be made to carry the United States’ mails and passen¬ 
gers, and also light valuable goods, where time is of more importance than 
cost of transportation.” 

“ Alleghany Portage Railroad. —The length of railroad, from the east 
end of the lower basin at Hollidaysburg. to the west end of the basin at 
Johnstown, is 36 miles and 221 perches; but, between the head of the basin 
at Johnstown, and the upper basin at Hollidaysburg, the distance is only 35 
miles and 310 perches.” 

“ A space one hundred and twenty feet wide, has been staked out and ap¬ 
propriated to the use of the commonwealth the entire length of the railroad. 
The reasons which governed the board in occupying so much ground, are 
these: It was necessary to clear off the tall heavy timber of the mountain, 
for at least 60 feet on each side of the centre of the road, and hereafter the 
incalculable trade of the Mississippi basin and the lakes, will require an ad¬ 
ditional number of tracks over the mountain; hence, prudence seemed to 
dictate the propriety of appropriating to the use of the State, as much ground, 
as may hereafter be required, while it is at present of very little value.” 

“ The bed of the road is graded 25 feet wide, for a double set of tracks.” 

“The railroad when completed, with a double set of tracks of stone and 
iron, with the necessary machinery, the whole executed in the best manner, 
is at present estimated to cost $1,271,718 IS. The amount of work done 
on the 1st day of November was $75,195 96, of which $63,984 S4 has 
been paid, and $11,211 12 is retained.” 

“It may be proper here to remark, that the cost of the work yet to be 









245 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

done has been estimated at the contract prices, with a liberal per centage 
added to cover contingencies; and, although estimates have hitherto proved 
little else than their own fallacy, yet the board believe the above is ample, 
and may be relied upon.” 

The Pennsylvania Canal Commissioners, after saying in their report of 
the estimates with which they had hitherto been furnished, that u they have 
proved little else than their own fallacy ,” speak of the Columbia and 
Philadelphia railroad, as having had work done on it of the value of 231,000 
dollars; and acknowledged that, so far as the work has gone, it has cost more 4 
than the estimates. The present estimate of the whole work, they state 
“ to be $2,207,120 21, being equal to $28,173 63 per mile.” 

* Of the Alleghany Portage railroad, between the Juniatta and Conemaugh 
rivers, in length about 36 miles, upon which but $75,000 has been as yet 
laid out, they say, “ that the bed of the road is graded 25 feet wide for a 
double set ot tracks;” and that, “ when completed, with the necessary ma¬ 
chinery, it is at present estimated to cost $1,271,71S IS,” being about 
$35,325 per mile. 

In the sixteenth report of the Board of Public Works, to the General 
Assembly of Virginia, Mr. Crozet,*the principal engineer of that common¬ 
wealth, in his report to the board, expresses himself as follows: 

“ From their acknowledged superiority in a great many instances in Eng¬ 
land, railways have obtained warm advocates in this country, though the 
' opinion seems most generally to prevail that they are not applicable here. 
Without attempting to judge of what is expedient in other States, I am of 
opinion that, at least in Virginia, railways could not be extensively intro¬ 
duced.” 

The engineer then proceeds to consider the expediency of a railroad, as 
a substitute for the navigation of James river; and concludes (p. 491) with 
the following remarks in relation to a railroad across the mountains: 

“ The making of a railway across the mountains has been also mentioned; 
but it would be attended wilh still greater practical difficulties. 

“ In the first place, the mountains are so rugged and broken, that the only 
practicable way to carry this plan into execution would be to follow the 
valley of some creek, which leads up to the top of the dividing ridge. But 
here all the difficulties presented in the valley of James river would be 
greatly multiplied. The graduation of the road must be almost every where 
among cliffs; its windings would be more numerous and considerable; the 
deep cut would be enormously expensive, and the stationary engines and in¬ 
clined planes very frequent, &c. After having, at an immense expense, 
established the foundation of the railway, blocks of stone must be obtained, 
shaped, and transported into a complete wilderness, and put into their place. 
Then castings must be obtained from a foundry at the rate of at least one 
hundred and twelve dollars per ton, and transported an immense distance to 
this same wilderness, to form a railway perhaps one hundred miles in length, 
at the rate of nearly one hundred tons of iron per mile, exclusive of fixed 
steam engines and machinery. 

“In England, where facilities of all sorts are concentrated; where there 
exists an extensive practical knowledge of these things, the nice adjustment 
of railways may not be thought an object capable of having a material influ¬ 
ence on the expense; but, among the mountains of Virginia, far from foun¬ 
dries, rails would have to be procured of particular shapes to suit each of the 
numerous curves of the road, and counteract the centrifugal force of the 
wagons in the turns. 



246 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ What the expense of railways, made under circumstances so unfavora 
ble, would be, I am not prepared to say; but certain it is, that it would be 
immense, and that the present state of things would not justify it.” 

In a letter of this engineer, dated the 6th of August, 1831, to Benjamin 
Wright, who was associated with him in an examination and report on the 
best mode of improving the channel of intercourse along the valley of James 
river, he says, “ As regards the railroad plan, I have estimated it as about 
equal to the cost of (meaning, evidently, in cost to) a canal.” 

The associate engineer, with more precision, says, in his letter to the 
Governor of Virginia, of the 7th of April, 1S31— 

“ I arrived in Richmond on the evening of the 23d July, in order to 
commence upon the execution of the duties as associate engineer. 

“ I was a little disappointed in not finding the chief engineer at the seat 
of Government: the fault is, perhaps, partly chargeable to myself, in not 
adverting to the fact of the great extent of territory of the State; and that 
the duties of the chief engineer might call him to the extreme parts of it, 
and, therefore, a longer notice of my intention to visit here ought to have 
been given. 

“ In waiting the-return of the chief engineer, 1 have (through the kind¬ 
ness of the Second Auditor,) employed my time usefully and beneficially, 
in the examination of all the reports, plans, profiles, and estimates, &c., 
which have been made, from time to time, of the valley of James river 
and New river, and the intermediate country, where a probable connexion, 
as contemplated by the act of April 7, 1831, might be made. 

“ On the 3d of August, the chief engineer arrived in Richmond, and the 
next day we had a conference upon the proper course of duties to be pur¬ 
sued under.the act of the State, and the appointment which brought me 
here. 

“ I took the liberty to address a note to him, a copy of which I enclose, 
as also his reply thereto. 

“Your excellency will perceive, that the chief engineer has, by his for¬ 
mer official reports, at various times, expressed opinions upon the kind of 
improvement adapted to the James^river valley, which opinions I could not 
expect he would controvert. Situated as I now am, I have only to make up 
an opinion of my own, which I have done from the reports, estimates, plans, 
and profiles, before referred to, and from a personal examination of the val¬ 
ley of James river, from a point above the Blue Ridge, to Richmond, for an 
improvement of this kind, in 1824. 

‘‘By the act of the Legislature above named, it appears there are three 
plans or kinds of improvement to be examined and estimated • 

“ 1st. Dams and locks—Moving power, supposed steam. 

“2d. Canal—Continuous. 

“3d. Railroad from Richmond to Lynchburg, and supposed to be con¬ 
tinued westward to the proper point on the western waters. 

“ If the act contemplated an estimate of the whole of the several routes 
mentioned in it, from a personal survey made by us, all these duties could 
not be preformed in less than two or three years, in such manner as an en¬ 
gineer would like to be responsible for. Believing as I do, that any further 
survey to enable me to make up an opinion of the kind of improvement which 
the State ought to adopt, are unnecessary, and that an approximation of the 
cost of executing such improvement can be as nearly determined at this 
time, as is useful or important to permit a legislative body to act benefi- 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 247 

cially for the State, I take the liberty to give that opinion, which you can 
use as you think proper. 

1. Lock and Dam Navigation, with a moving power by steam tow¬ 
boats. 

“ I have careful examined the report and estimate of the chief engineer, 
for locks and dams in James river, from Maiden’s Adventure to Covington. 

“ I am very sorry I cannot agree with him as to the cost of such a work. 
My own experience, and what I have seen of such works executed by others, 
applying the principles as far as they are applicable to the James river valley 
to Lynchburg, assure me that I cannot make such an improvement for 
double the money estimated. 

“If such an improvement was made, there are strong objections to the 
moving power. It requires too much mechanical skill, and either the State 
or some wealthy individuals must, become the carriers. 

2. Railroad. 

“Ifa railroad should be adopted, it ought to start from Richmond instead 
of Maiden’s Adventure; this would destroy all the use of the present canal. 

“ I do not believe a railroad, with two tracks, permanently constructed, 
and proper turn-outs and fixtures, can be constructed for so small a sum per 
mile as a good canal. 

“ It requires great mechanical skill, if the moving power is locomotive 
engines, and, without these, applying only horse power, it will be found that 
no great speed is gained, and it is certain that the expenses of transportation 
per mile will be much greater than on a canal. Property cannot be as safe 
from storms and depredations as in a good canal boat under lock and key. 

3. Continuous Canals. 

“ Of all the three plans which have been directed by the act, so far as the 
valley of James river from Maiden’s Adventure to Lynchburg, the best, in 
my opinion, is an independent canal, with such connexions with the river 
as can make it accommodate the south side. 

“ The simplicity of a canal, and its adaptation to the capacity of every 
man in the community, will certainly make transportion on it cheaper than 
any other mode. 

“It is, without doubt, better suited to James river as far as Lynchburg, 
and, probably, taking into consideration what has been done at the Blue 
Ridge, it ought to be extended beyond that point. Every man is his own 
carrier, if he chooses to be so: he moves as he pleases, and stops when he 
pleases, if he does not interrupt others, in a canal. 

“ The question arises, then, if a canal is to be made, what shall be the size 
of it? 

“ If the canal between Maiden’s Adventure and Richmond can be so al¬ 
tered as to bring it to the size I would wish, (and I am inclined to the opi¬ 
nion that it can be so done, without very great expense,) I would then recom¬ 
mend that the canal from Maiden’s Adventure to Lynchburg, should be 
fifty feet surface, thirty feet bottom, with five feet depth of water in all ita* 
parts, where the excavation and embankments were good. At the heavy 
bluff points of rocks, where it is* expensive, I would reduce the width so as 
barely to permit two boats to pass each other. Where I had culverts of any 
considerable size, I would reduce the width to forty feet, so as to save ten 


248 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

feet of masonry. The aqueducts I would build of stone, if good stone 
could be found, and cement is not too expensive. These I would have 19 
or 20 feet water way. 

** The present locks are built 85 feet between the gates, and 16 feet wide. 
These are entirely too wide for the canal. I should prefer locks of the 
length of the present ones, but not more than 14£ feet wide, or 15 leet at 
the extreme. 

“Such a canal can be built along the valley of James river, from Venture 
fays to Lynchburg, under good managemetit, for 18 to 20,000 dollars per 
mile, provided water cement can be procured at or near the Blue Ridge. 

“ It is proper that I should give a reason why I would enlarge the canal 
to the size I have mentioned, and give the banks a slope of 2 to 1. It is 
well known, by experience, that common earth is inclined to assume this 
shape when washed by water, and my experience leads me to believe, it is 
better to form the banks with this slope at first, than to supply the abrasion 
of the banks with new earth after they have washed down and assumed this 
shape. 

“ Such banks, when raised above the natural earth, are stronger; they will 
sooner take vegetation and be protected from wash; or, if abraded, they are 
easier protected by a few small stones thrown along next the water surface. 

“Many persons who have not examined the question, suppose that a ca¬ 
nal increases in cost according to size: this is not the fact. It will be found, 
that, for a canal of the size I have mentioned, the additional expense of ex¬ 
cavation and embankment over a canal of the size of the New York canal, 
will not exceed from 6 to S per cent., and this item forms the whole addi¬ 
tional expense: the locks, aqueducts, and culverts, being the same upon the 
plan I propose. 

“ On comparing a cross section, it will be found that the one is 200 feet, 
the other is only 136 feet; and a boat loaded and moving at the rate of 3 
miles per hour, the power to move her will be nearly 20 per cent, less, in 
the large, than the smaller canal. 

“ Such a canal will permit boats 75 feet long, 14 feet wide, and drawing 
4 feet water, to carry 70 to 75 tons, if desired. My own opinion is, that 
the most profitable kind of boat will be found to carry about 50 tons. 

“ I have been thus particular in my views of a great plan of improvement 
from Maiden’s Adventure to Lynchburg, and probably the same ought to be 
continued above the Blue Ridge. 

“ From the point where a canal ought to stop, and a railroad commence, 
all the examinations are not quite complete: enough is known to show that 
there is a favorable place to pass the Alleghany, either with a railroad or 
canal. So far as I have examined the surveys made, the formidable diffi¬ 
culties appear to be on the New river: these may require examination to de¬ 
termine what kind of improvement ought to be adopted. 

(< The law of April 7, 1831, appears to require of the engineer to state 
the advantages and disadvantages, the commercial benefits, the probable 
revenue, &c. 

“ Any statement of this kind, from me, would not be entitled to a mo¬ 
ment’s consideration. It is well known to all persons who have been con¬ 
versant with the opening of canals in this country, that a new kind of trade 
is opened: articles which could never reach a market, by reason of the great 
expense of transportation before the canal was opened, are brought in great 
abundance afterwards. It is well known, that more than half the tonnage 


251 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

mean^of conveyance, (especially when their relative economy is the same,) 
ynless they can be made to partake of the general activity, and additional 
celerity given to the boats conveyed upon them. Experiments, to ascertain 
the amount of resistance at different rates of speed, would be therefore 
highly valuable; and it is to be hoped that such will be made on a practical 
scale upon some of the canals, to show how far they are capable of affording 
a more speedy transit. 

“ The existing agitation of the public mind, respecting the relative utility 
of railroads and canals in the transit of goods from one place to another, 
renders it a subject of proper inquiry to ascertain the relative performances 
of the different kinds of motive power upon those two species of internal 
communication. 

“ I shall, therefore, give a brief comparison, founded on the foregoing 
deductions of the different kinds of motive power upon railroads, with the 
performance of horses by the present mode of eanal navigation. 

“ Not having had an opportunity, from my own personal observations, 
of ascertaining, with sufficient accuracy, the weights which a horse will drag 
in a boat upon a canal, I shall be obliged to have recourse to the reports of 
those engineers whose practice in that line has enabled them to obtain the 
necessary data. 

“Mr. R. Stevenson*, of Edinburgh, in his report on the Edinburgh rail¬ 
way, in 1813, states, ‘ upon the canals of England, a boat of thirty tons’ 
burden is generally tracked by one horse, and navigated by two men and a 
boy; on a level railway it may be concluded that a good horse, managed by 
a man or lad, will work with eight tons; at this rate, the work performed on 
a railway by one man and a horse is more than in proportion of one-third of 
the work done upon the canal by three persons and a horse;’ and Mr. Ste¬ 
venson, in his calculations afterwards, assumes the power of a horse, upon a 
good railway, equal to ten tons. 

“ Mr. Sylvester, in his report on the Liverpool and Manchester railway 
gives twenty tons as the performance of a horse upon a canal, travelling at 
the rate of two miles an hour. 

“ The variation between the two statements may have arisen from the 
observations being made on canals of different widths. Mr. Stevenson, in 
another report, states, that the striking difference between the draught of 
horses on coming out of a narrow canal into a more capacious one, induced 
the reporter to give the subject particular attention; and, by means of ex¬ 
periments made with the dynamometer, so far as he had an opportunity of 
carrying the experiments into effect, the difference appeared to be at least 
one-fifth in favor of the great canal. 

“ Under these circumstances, I shall take the performance of a horse 
equal to that of thirty tons upon a canal, which is the greatest I have seen 
assigned by any one, and we have previously found the energy of his power 
equal to ten tons upon a railway: which will make the relative perform¬ 
ances as 3 : 1. 

“ I am not acquainted with any experiments, made on a practical scale, to 
ascertain the ratio of the increase of resistance, either with different weights, 
or with the same load moved at different velocities, upon a canal; but it is 
assumed by all writers on the subject, as a law of hydrodynamics, which 
appears unquestionable, that the resistance at least is proportionate to the 
square of the velocity. 


252 


r Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ Taking these premises as sufficiently established, the diagram III* will 
represent the resistances at different velocities; and the following table will 
k >how the relative quantity of work performed by horses dragging boats on 
canals, and carriages upon railroads. 



“From this we find, that, when the rate of speed is about two miles an 
hour the quantity of goods which a horse will convey upon a canal is three 
times that which the same horse can convey upon a railroad; and that when 
the velocity on each is about 3i miles an hour, the resistance of the canal 
increasing as the square of the velocity, while that on a railroad remains the 
same, the two become equal; and a horse is then enabled to drag as much 
weight upon a carriage on a railroad, as in a boat on a canal. When the 
velocity is further augmented, then the disproportion becomes greater, and a 
much heavier load can be conveyed on a railroad, with the same intensity 
of motive power, than can be done on a canal. 

“ If, therefore, the rate of tonnage on a canal, arising from the cost of 
forming and keeping it in a state of active use, together with the cost Of 
boats, be not greater than the tonnage required to form and keep a railroad 
in repair, and also the carriages by which the goods are conveyed; then the 
relative economy at different rates of speed, in the transit of goods upon 
canals and railroads, will be represented by column nine of the preceding 


•III. 


Velocities - 

. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Spaces ... 

. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Times 

. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Resistance 

. 

1 

4 

9 

16 

Mechanical force required, 


1 

8 

27 

64 

acting for the above time 5 

" 

1 

Mechanical force required, ) 





16 

for any given distance ) 

* 

1 

4 

9 















[ Doc. No. 101. ] 249 

now passing on the Erie canal, consists of property which would never have 
been moved at all, but for this easy and cheap conveyance. 

“This view of the question makes it impossible for any one to do more 
than conjecture the result of a great work of this kind. 

“If it was thought proper, in constructing, a canal to make locks, aque¬ 
ducts, &c., of more temporary materials, the costs per mile would be re¬ 
duced, probably, 20 to 30 per cent., but I cannot recommendthis plan for such 
a work, in such a place as the valley of James river, and for the State of 
Virginia.” 

In a subsequent letter from the same to the same, dated August 9, 1831, 
he says: 

“ I have drawn up a short report, in which I have given opinions as to the 
various plans of improvement adapted to the valley of James river, and de¬ 
cided upon what I think best. 

“ I have not gone into long arguments to show why a canal is better adapt¬ 
ed to the peculiar location of this valley. The simple fact that it is that 
kind of machine which, in its use, is brought to the capacity and under¬ 
standing of every man in the community, is, in my mind, enough to decide 
the question. 

“As to the cost, I have fixed the maximum, under good management , 
and this will make a permanent, excellent work. If the Legislature choose 
to make a less permanent work, of course, the cost of it will be considerably 
less. 

<c I have not touched upon, or made any remarks, as to the improvement 
from a point on James river, to New river. A railroad will, no doubt, be 
the improvement which ought to be adopted, and the surveys now going on 
will determine the best route, probably. 

“The public mind is now so unsettled in their opinions on the compara¬ 
tive advantages and disadvantages between railroads and canals, and con¬ 
sidering that it will take some little time to have the good people of Virgi¬ 
nia satisfied, I have had doubts in my mind whether it would be useful for 
me to return here again. I fear I can do but little, if any good, under the 
impressions I now view the matter, and I presume you will see it in the 
same light. I have explained myself fully to Captain Crozet and to the Se¬ 
cond Auditor. 

“ I can only say that, if I can render good service to Virginia, I would 
return in October, but my view of the whole ground is against it, under a 
full belief that it would be useless. I regret that I could not have the plea¬ 
sure to see you. The situation of my private affairs, which I adverted to in 
my former letter, make it very important for me to return to the north at 
this time.” 

In two reports made to the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad Company, 
by two eminent civil engineers, who were empowered, prior to making 
their reports, to visit all the railroads in use in England, for the collection 
of suitable materials to solve the inquiry propounded to them by the officers 
of that company, which, was, by what means of transportation their railroad 
could be most effectually made to subserve its ends, the public convenience, 
and the profit of the stockholders? it is distinctly stated to be their opinion, 
that the commerce and intercourse between Liverpool and Manchester are 
not competent to maintain the cost of the application of stationary steam 
engines to that great thoroughfare; and that a greater velocity, than of ten 


250 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

miles an hour, ought not to be attempted by the locomotive engines, which 
they recommend as a less expensive propelling power than the stationary. 
It was designed to incorporate, in this note, copious extracts from the reports 
of those engineers, which have, however, been mislaid. 

From an English work on railroads, of prior date, and by far the most 
valuable now extant, that of Wood, the following extracts will show that, 
in 1825 , the date of the publication of his treatise, the question was not re¬ 
garded to be settled as to the relative value of railroads and canals. “ Ca¬ 
nals,” says this writer, “ever since their adoption, have undergone little or 
no change; some trivial improvements may have been effected in the man¬ 
ner of passing boats from one level to another, but, in their general economy, 
they may have been said to remain stationary. Their nature almost pro¬ 
hibits the application of mechanical power to advantage in the conveyance 
of goods upon them; and they have not, therefore, partaken of the benefits 
which other arts have derived from mechanical science. 

“ The reverse of this is the case with railroads; their nature admits of the 
almost unrestricted application of mechanical power upon them, and their 
utility has been correspondingly increased. No wonder, then, that canals, 
which, at one time, were unquestionably superior to railroads in general 
economy, by remaining in a state of quiescence, should, at some period or 
other, be surpassed by the latter, which has been daily and progressively 
improving; and perhaps that time is arrived. The human mind is generally 
averse and slow in adapting itself to the changes of circumstances; and 
though from this cause the competition in consequence might not have been 
so speedily brought into action, had not the present prosperity of the coun¬ 
try induced capitalists to seek out every source of speculation, affording the 
least prospect of success. The natural course of events would, however, 
soon have developed the real situation of the two modes, in their respective 
relations to each other; and though the time might have been prolonged 
when railways were brought into active competition with canals, yet its ar¬ 
rival would not be the less certain. 

“ One might be led to suppose, that the question could readily be solved 
by an appeal to facts, or by the comparison of particular canals with similar 
railways; but it is here, I presume, where the difficulty lies; we cannot 
perhaps find canals and railways whose external features are precisely the 
same: we are obliged, therefore, to have recourse to a comparison of general 
facts or principles peculiar to each mode, which, again, cannot be accomplish¬ 
ed, unless we are fully and intimately acquainted with all the various pro¬ 
perties and characteristics of each mode. The want of proper data was felt, 
and it is with a view of furnishing these, that the present work was under¬ 
taken; which, by a concise, and at the same time comprehensive description 
of the construction, uses and advantages of railroads, together with an elu¬ 
cidation of the various principles of their action, the reader might be ena¬ 
bled to make a comparison with other modes of internal communication, and 
thus form a judgment of their relative value. 

“It is much to be regretted that a similar inquiry has not been made 
with respect to canals; the present state of commerce requires that goods 
should be conveyed from place to place with the utmost rapidity, and per¬ 
haps we owe no small portion of mercantile prosperity to our facility of 
despatch. The slow, tardy, and uninterrupted transit by canal navigation 
must, therefore, of necessity yield to other modes affording a more rapid 


255 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

tons, the whole mass moved is about thirty-three tons; and the average 
force of traction he found to be eighty pounds . 99 (Id. p. 150.) 

Table V. 


*2 TABLE showing the effects of a power or force of traction .of one 
hundred pounds, at different velocities, on canals, railroads, and 
turnpike roads . 


Velocity of motion. 

• 

LOAD MOVED BY A POWER OF 100 

LBS. 




On a canal. 

On a level railway. 

On a level turnpike 

Miles 

Feet per. 





road. 







per hour. 

second. 

Total mas 

Useful 

Total mass 

Useful 

Total mass 

Useful 



moved. 

effect. 

moved. 

effect. 

moved. 

effect. 



lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

n 

3.66 

55,500 

39,400 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

3 

4.40 

38,542 

27,361 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

3* 

5.13 

28,316 

20,100 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

4 

5.86 

21,680 

15,390 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

5 

7.33 

13,875 

9,850 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

6 

8.80 

9,635 

6,840 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

7 

10.26 

7,080 

5,026 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

8 

11.73 

5,420 

3,848 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

9 

13.20 

4,282 

3,040 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

10 

14.66 

3,468' 

2,462 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 

13.5 

19.9 

1,900 

1,350 

14,400 

10,800 

1,800 

1,350 


44 Table V. —This table is to show the work that may be performed by 
the same mechanical power, at different velocities, on canal, railroad, and 
turnpike roads. Ascending and descending by locks on canals may be 
considered equivalent to the ascent and descent of inclinations on railroads 
and turnpike roads. The load carried, added to the weight of the vessel or 
carriage which contains it, forms the total mass moved; and the useful effect 
is the load. To find the effect on canals at different velocities, the effect of 
the given power at one velocity being known, it will be as 3 2 :2.5 2 :: 55,- 
500 : 38,542. The mass moved being very nearly inversely as the square 
of the velocity. 

44 This table shows, that when the velocity is five miles per hour, it re¬ 
quires less power to obtain the same effect on a railway than on a canal; and 
we have added, the lower range of figures to show the velocity at which 
the effect on a canal is only equal to that on a turnpike road. By com¬ 
paring the power and tonnage of steam vessels, it will be found that the rate 
of decrease of power by increase of velocity, is not very distant from the 
truth; but we know that in a narrow canal the resistance increases in a more 
rapid ratio*than as the square of the velocity, only we have not time to 
spare to follow up the inquiry at this moment. Other tables of a similar 






















256 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

« 

kind have been published, and we ‘find our column exhibiting the useful 
effect on canals nearly agrees with that of Mr. M., the ingenious author of 
a series of essays on the subject, which first appeared in the Scotsman; but 
we differ respecting railways, his being more in favor of railroads. From 
Mr. Sylvester’s table this differs very considerably: he has underrated the 
effect on canals as much as he has overrated the effect on railways and com¬ 
mon roads.” 

It is proper to remark, that, from Tredgold, as from other English trea¬ 
tises on railroads, passages may be extracted, less favorable, than the preced¬ 
ing, to the superiority of canals: but enough is here quoted to Show the 
uncertainty which hung over the question, whether canals or railroads 
were to be preferred for the transportation of persons and property. No 
two authors, scarcely, will be found to concur precisely in opinion on the 
subject, nor the same author with himself. 

The knowledge possessed by the founders of the Baltimore and Ohio rail¬ 
way of the superiority of railroads to canals, was comprised in the pam¬ 
phlet detailing their proceedings, from which copious extracts have already 
made part of note N. 

It is there introduced in the following language of the report of their 
committee, beginning on the 7th page of the proceedings: 

“ The stock of information upon the general subject of railroads, now in 
the possession of the committee, is admitted not to be very extensive, but 
they have gleaned from the several publications and reports which they have 
examined upon this interesting subject, enough to leave no doubt upon their 
minds that these roads are far better adapted to our situation and circum¬ 
stances than a canal across the mountains would be: they therefore recom¬ 
mend that measures be taken to construct a double railroad between the city 
of Baltimore and some suitable point on the Ohio river, by the most eligible 
and direct route, and that a charter to incorporate a company to execute 
this work be obtained as early as possible; and, in support of this opinion, 
they submit the following views and statements.” 

Among these statements, which are all from books and pamphlets in 
common circulation, are the following: 

“ The proprietors of the few canals which do answer, will have the 
greatest reason to complain,” (that is, of the introduction of railroads;) “ but 
they must, of course, submit to any superior method of improving the con¬ 
veyance or transport of merchandise, just as the common coasting traders 
will to‘the established steam vessels: with respect to those canals which do 
not answer, and those that never can, the sooner they are abolished, in toto, 
the better.” (Gray, p. 66.) 

“ The expense of forming railways is not only, far less , than that of canals, 
but the former exhibit, the peculiar advantage of a better conveyance than 
roads and canals conjointly afford at present. (Gray, p. 67.) 

“ The mode of conveyance that most nearly assimilates to railways is 
canals; but to them, the agency of steam cannot he available , as they are 
limited to the size of their loads , and, as regards utility, to the speed of 
conveyance; for, to draw a load of forty or fifty tons, with double the speed 
that is now done, by one horse, could not be effected, on a common canal , 
by any power that can be applied.” (Jessop in Gray, p. 103.) 

“A railway can, according to circumstances, be made at from a^half to a 
fourth of the expense of a canal , and convey goods more cheaply, which 


253 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

t ble. Bat as, in general, the formation of a canal costs about three times 
s much as the formation of a railway, and the annual charges of keeping 
be boats, towing paths, and bridges, &c. in repair, is also considerable, if 
hose expenses be as much greater with a canal than upon a railroad, so that 
hey will compensate for the extra advantage of the canal in the greater 
quantity of goods conveyed at a slow rate, then their relative utility will 
assume a different appearance, and the railway, as requiring a less investment 
of capital, and less annual charges, may be superior, even at the lowest and 
most advantageous rate of motion, upon canals; ana, where facility or expe¬ 
dition is an object, then, at the more rapid rates of speed, the railway will be 
proportionably superior. 

“ These, however, being matters of calculation, where every instance may 
present a different conclusion, and depending upon all the various concomi¬ 
tant circumstances incident to each particular case, cannot, in a work like 
this, be made the subject of even conjecture. I have endeavored to furnish 
all those data which appeared general, and which applied to the two modes 
in conjunction with each other, in a practical and general point of view. It 
must be left to those acquainted with all the circumstances of each particu¬ 
lar case, when they come into competition with each other, to judge, from 
the individual situations , which of the two is preferable. 

(( When it becomes a subject of discussion, which of the two modes are 
to be adopted, it assumes rather a different shape, than when a railroad is to 
enter into competition with a canal already formed. In the latter case , the 
canal proprietor commences with considerable advantage by the addi¬ 
tional quantity of goods which a horse can drag at a slow pace upon a 
canal , where perhaps a little loss of time may be no object; the canal 
proprietor may, even with his great investment of capital , by reducing 
his rates of tonnage extremely low y be enabled to compete succes fully 
with a railway. 

“For, although a horse may, when travelling at the rate of four or six 
miles an hour, convey a greater quantity of goods upon a railway than 
when employed in dragging goods at the same velocity upon a canal, yet 
still a horse cannot drag more goods at the rate of four miles an hour upon 
a railway, than he can at two miles an hour upon a canal; for, in no case, 
does the greatest quantity of work that a horse can do, at the most benefi¬ 
cial pace on a canal, reach below three times that which a horse can do 
at any pace upon a railroad. 

“For the conveyance of passengers, or where the transit of any species of 
goods may require a celerity of four miles an hour, then railways become 
unquestionably more economical than canals; but if the question be the ab¬ 
stract performance, or quantity of goods to be transported from one place 
to another, without reference to speed , then the canals will at all times 
have a superiority over railroads , in point of quantity of work done by 
a horses, in the proportion of 3:1. The comparative expense arising from 
the extra interest of capital, and the annual charges and maintenance of a 
canal, may reduce this proportionate performance near to an equality; or, 
if the one compensate for the other, then perhaps the less investment of 
capital in a railroad, and the greater certainty of transit, may make it supe¬ 
rior to a canal; but unless the disparity of cost is great between a railroad 
entering into competition with an existing canal, or unless some extraordi¬ 
nary circumstances in the nature of the trafic occur, it may be difficult to 



254 [ Doc. No. 101. 3 

say, when horses are the motive power on each, which is superior.” (Wood 
on Railroads.) 

The writer in England on the subject of railroads, next in celebrity to 
Wood, is Tredgold, a member of the,Institution of Civil Engineers, whose 
treatise was republished in New York in 1825. 

“In discussing,” he says, “the merits of railroads, we have to compare 
them with turnpike roads and with canals. Railroads give the certainty of 
the turnpike road, with a saving of seven-eighths of the power; one horse 
on a railroad producing as much effect as eight horses on a turnpike road. 
In the effect produced bv a given power, the railroad is about a mean be¬ 
tween the turnpike road and a canal, when the rate is about three miles an 
hour; but where greater speed of conveyance is desirable, the railroad 
equals the canal in effect, and even surpasses it.” (Page 3, of the New 
York edition.) 

“ When it is attempted to compare railroads with canals or common roads, 
it must be obvious that each mode has its peculiarities: the same may be 
said of each line of traffic.” (Id. page 8.) 

“Both the first cost and the annual repairs of a canal exceed those of a 
railway; the excess differing according to the nature of the country. But 
in a country suited for a canal, the difference of first expense is more than 
compensated by a greater effect produced by a given power ovra canal 
than on a railway , provided the motion does not differ much from three 
miles an hour, and this renders a canal decidedly better for a level dis¬ 
trict. On account of the resistance increasing in the ratio of the squares of 
the velocities, when bodies move in fluids, and also on account of the inju¬ 
ry the banks would suffer by too rapid a movement of the water, the 
velocity of canal boats must be considered as limited to a speed not far ex¬ 
ceeding that which they obtain at present; but, on a railway, a greater velo¬ 
city may be obtained with less exertion, even where animal power is em¬ 
ployed.” (Id. page 9.) 

“ The average cost of a proper railroad, with a double set of tracts, will 
not be less than £5,000 sterling (or 22,222 dollars) per mile, when all the 
expenses in our list are included, and the works are done in a good and 
substantial manner.” (Id. p. 141.) 

The Liverpool and Manchester railroad, thirty-two miles long, is known 
certainly to have cost three times that sum, and rumor makes it nearer six 
times. 

“From a list of estimates for no fewer than seventy-five canals, including 
those of the greatest and least expense, a writer in the Quarterly Review, 
No. 62, p. 363, draws a general average of £7,946 (35,280 dollars) per 
mile; but it is well known that these works have rarely, if ever, been ex¬ 
ecuted for the estimated expense.” “The Union canal cost J212,000 
(52,280 dollars) per mile: the Forth and Clyde, 12,400” (54,056 dollars.) 
(Id. p. 143.) 

“ The average cost of a canal may be estimated at j 01O,OOO per mile,” 
(44,444 dollars.) (Id. p. 143.) 

“Smeaton informs us that twenty-two tons burden, at from two to two 
and-a quarter miles per hour, is the work of a horse on a canal. And Mr. 
Beavan has informed us that the horses on the Grand Junction canal usually 
travel twenty six miles per day, and draw a boat containing twenty-four 
tons at the rate of 2.45 miles per hour; the empty boat being nearly nine 




259 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The appendix of the work, from which the above quotations are made, 
speaking of another canal, that between Birmingham and Liverpool, avers, 
as an argument for breaking down, or dividing, by means of a railroad, its 
long uncontested monopoly, that the original shares had risen from d6140 
sterling, to the sum of £2,840; and adds: “ These facts on the increased value 
of this canal, which exceeds twenty times its original cost, prove, also, that 
the public transits might have been performed at much cheaper rates, and 
yet the company obtain an adequate remuneration.” 

The tolls on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal are not only limited to two 
cents per ton per mile, but the profit on any possible amount of tonnage, to 
15 per cent, on the capital expended. The freight for carriage, left by 
law to be reduced by open competition on the public highway which the 
canal affords to every boatman who may please to use it, the experience of 
the Lehigh navigation, demonstrates, on a smaller canal, will not exceed 
one cent per ton per mile. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company,on the other hand, are al¬ 
lowed to charge for toll and transportation, from west to east, four cents per 
ton per mile, from east to west six cents; and their charter allows them to 
be the exclusive carriers, with no other limitation to the extent of their fu¬ 
ture profit. 

The exclusive advocates of railways insist that the resistance of water to 
the motion of a canal boat increases, at every addition to its speed, in the ra¬ 
tio of the square of its velocity. Be it so. A single horse can draw, in a 
boat, on a canal, at the rate of two miles an hour, (the appendix to Gray af¬ 
firms, page # 206,) 90,000 pounds; consequently, at four miles an hour, he 
could draw but the one-fourth of that weight, or 25,000 pounds; but at one 
mile an hour, he could draw 360,000 pounds; and at half a mile an hour, 
the enormous weight of 1,440,000 pounds. Thus a single horse draws, on 
the large canal between Amsterdam and the Helder, a ship of several hun¬ 
dred tons. On the Champlain canal, a gentleman met a raft of timber so 
united, by a single plank, with a pivot for each lockhold of the long raft, that 
one horse drew it, with facility, at the rate of a mile an hour. It was from 
the lake, and then on its way to Albany; its computed weight was 200 
tons, and the horse had drawn it the entire length of the Champlain canal. 
What velocity, and how many railroad cars would be required to balance 
the economy of this transportation? Yet a full moiety of the revenue of 
the New York canals is derived from the productions of the forest, in their 
rudest form. Would any contemplated speed of a carriage on a railway, 
which, at most, could but save the interest of a few days or hours on the 
very small capital vested in this vast moving mass of wood, countervail the 
cheapness of this slow voyage? 

One great advantage attending the canal on which it was drawn is, that 
the swiftest packet boat, in meeting or overtaking such a raft, can pass it by, 
without the least obstruction, or a moment’s delay. On a canal 60 feet wide, 
the tracks are never impeded by heavy carriages. 

The numerous English authorities in favor of the superiority of railroads, 
in a country where there are, as yet, very few railroads, and there have 
long been more than one hundred canals, are contradicted, as we have seen, 
by American engineers, of at least equal merit, who, considering the very 
wide field which the United States present for both species of improvement, 
cannot be suspected of undue partiality for either. 

But the disproof of the arbitrary and most extraordinary assertion of thepe 



260 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

British writers, that canals are attended, in their construction, with three, 
and even four times the cost of railways, does not rest on mere authority. 

The actual experience of both countries has now settled this question, pro¬ 
vided the cost of the only railroad in England, adapted to an active exchange 
of commodities, or exceeding a few miles in length, be assumed, as the mea¬ 
sure of the expense of such structures on that side of the Atlantic. 

On turning to the numerous facts, developed by the past experience of 
both Europe and America, an impartial engineer will infer, amidst their 
seeming contradictions, some principles calculated to guide his judgment to 
a sound conclusion, as to the original cost, the annual repairs, and expense 
of carriage, of these two rival modes of internal improvement. Let these 
principles be then applied, so as to determine the relative cost of a canal 
and railroad, over every description of ground. 

The most favorable ground, for any railroad, would, obviously, be that 
which required no graduation or masonry; or which, in its natural state, 
was ready to receive the rails. 

Supposing a double track of these to cost no more, when laid on stone 
sills, than the first thirteen miles of the Baltimore and Ohio railway, which 
led to excellent granite quarries, it is obvious, that the cost of such a road, 
over such ground, would be at least $13,000, or, if the rails be laid on 
wood, not less than $10,000 per mile.* 

Assuming a surface of country, alike favorable for a canal, we have to 
look, for the elements of a just calculation of its cost, to its plan and dimensions. 

A canal of the dimensions and plan of the Erie canal of New York, of 
the canals of Ohio, and of the canals, in general, of Pennsylvania*, having a 
breadth, at the surface, of 40 feet, at bottom of 28 feet, and four feet depth 
of water, with a tow path 9 feet, and a berm bank 5 feet wide, will require 
an excavation, in level ground, of 21 9 0 4 0 feet cutting, in order to supply the 
necessary quantity of earth for its embankments. 

The cross section of the excavated prism of such a canal being 95 T 2 ^ square 
feet, the number of cubic yards of earth to be excavated in one mile of it, 
would be 95-J^ x 5280, the number of feet in a mile, divided by 27, the 
number of cubic feet in a cubic yard, or 1S.632 T 5 ^ cubic yards. 

If this canal be required to be enlarged to the dimensions recommended 
for the Chesapeake and Ohio canal by the United States’ Board of Internal 
Improvement, in their report of October, 1S26, that is, to 48 feet at the sur¬ 
face, 33 feet at bottom, with 5 feet depth of water, and embankments of the 
height or breadth of the former, its depth of cutting, in the same ground, 
will be the same as in the last case, or feet. The prism of earth to 
be excavated to form its embankments will have a cross section of 110 square 
feet, and will contain 20,770-A 7 ^ yards. 

If this canal be extended to the size of that, 48 miles of which are already 
constructed in the valley of the Potomac, between Washington and the 
“Point of Rocks,” that is, to a breadth, at the water line, of 60 feet, at bot¬ 
tom of 42 feet, with a towing path 12 feet, and a berm bank 8 feet broad at 
top, elevated two feet above the water, and having moderate slopes towards 
the bottom, then the necessary depth of cutting will be 3 T 2 ^ feet, the cross 
section of the excavated prism will be 157 feet, and the number of cubic 
yards to be excavated, 30,700 T 2 5 2 ^. 

*In a late estimate for the extension of this road to the District of Columbia, the cost of a 
double track of rails is computed at 15,000 dollars a mile, and of the entire road near 50,000 
dollars a mile, for the distance of 29 miles, between the present railroad and the District line. 
(See ante.) 


257 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

would render them lucrative when any other mode would be ruinous.” 
(Idem in Gray, p, 104.) 

‘‘Railways may be constructed at one-jifth of the expense of canals; 
ana, as it has been shown that they will convey as cheaply, where the pros¬ 
pect of remuneration to the adventurer in one case is doubtful, the teer 
expense makes the other certain .” (Gray.) 

Whether these essayists merited all the confidence reposed in them, ex¬ 
perience has already determined, in the relative cost of a considerable 
part of that very canal, denounced as affording too tardy , circuitous , and 
expensive a route to the Ohio, compared with the actual cost of a 
correspondent part of a railroad from Baltimore towards the “ Point of 
Rocks,”—-a canal exceeding greatly, in dimensions, as well as in the diffi¬ 
culty of its construction, any canal in England, and surpassed in breadth 
by but one in Great Britain, compared with a railroad of two tracks only. 

At the moment of the publication of this pamphlet, it had been ascer¬ 
tained that the railroad between Manchester and Liverpool, of two tracks, 
in length not thirty-two miles, and surmounting an elevation of less than 
150 feet, would exceed in cost sixty thousand dollars a mile! Its actual cost 
has surpassed, it is currently believed, the double of that sum. 

That the cost of the Ohio canals has not exceeded 11,000 dollars per mile 
has already been noticed, as well as the computed cost of the Erie canal of 
New York, which has, in fact, been less than 18,000 dollars the mile; its 
price was made to reach 23,000 dollars, by the addition of interest on loans, 
which have no relation to the contract prices of the works of a canal, and 
depend, for their necessity and their terms, on the wealth or credit of the 
borrower. 

The conclusion that permanent railroads, of several tracks, cannot be 
constructed at one-fifth of the expense of canals, may be farther confirmed 
by reference to the cost of the canals of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
Connecticut. The eastern section of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal is ex¬ 
pected to cost from 25 to 30,000 dollars the mile; but a canal of such 
dimensions should be compared with no railway of less than four tracks; 
and the rails, alone, of such a road, would probably cost more than that sum, 
exclusive of the graduation of the road. 

The greater part of the extracts from treatises on railroads, made by the 
Baltimore committee, (in 1827,) were, as we have seen, from a work entitled 
“ Gray’s Observations on a General Iron Railway,” the fifth edition of 
which was published in 1825. 

The following extracts from the very same work, show the importance 
of having presented both sides of the question now made, between the ad¬ 
vantages of canals and railroads. 

“In order,” says Gray, in examining the same authority, “to establish 
a general iron railway, it will be necessary to lay down two or three rail¬ 
ways for the ascending , and an equal number for the descending vehi¬ 
cles.” (Page 12.) 

“ In the immediate neighborhood of London, the traffic might demand 
six railways.” (Page 12.) 

“ It is desirable to show the probable expense of this scheme, but this de¬ 
pends almost entirely upon the state of the country through which it may 
be found necessary to pass.” 

“ Wagons laden with merchandise can never expect to proceed with the 
same velocity as coaches.” (Page 12, 13.) , 

33 


258 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ By the second extract it will be seen, that the sums quoted, as the ex¬ 
pense of railways, vary too much to be depended on.” (Page 13.) 

“ Mechanic power, when once put to the test, by comparison on land and 
water, will, no doubt, prove more favorable on the former, in proportion 
as that element is more stable , and not under the influence of winds , tides, 
or currents .” (Gray’s Observations, &c.) 

And from the appendix to the above edition of this work, the following 
passages merit attention: “ On the whole, then, it may be concluded that, 
on a level team-road, making allowance for the weight of the wagon, one 
horse will be required for every four tons of coal, or other articles convey¬ 
ed; and, on an edge railway, one horse will be required for every seven 
tons. On an ordinary canal, one horse, with a boat, will be sufficient for 
eighty tons. But the first cost of a canal is three or four times greater, than 
that of a railway; so that, in some cases, it may become a question , 
whether a railway might not be adopted with advahtage.” Page 178. 

“The public in general entertain wrong impressions respecting railways; 
they never hear them mentioned, without recurring to such as are seen in 
the neighborhood of coal pits and stone quarries. But such improvements 
have taken place, that they are no longer the same thing; besides which, a 
railway, without a locomotive engine, is something like a cart without a 
horse, a trade without profit, or a canal without water.” (Page 184 and 
185.) 

“ On a canal, a horse, travelling at two miles an hour, draws 30 tons, in 
a boat weighing probably 15 tons. Reducing the ton to 2,000 pounds, for 
the sake of round numbers, as in the last calculation, we find here that a 
power of traction of 100 pounds moves a mass of 90,000 pounds, or the 
resistance which the water opposes to the motion of the vessel is equal to 
one nine-hundredth part of the load or entire weight. At sea, where the 
water is of unlimited breadth, the resistance probably is one-third less.” 

“We see, then, that the effect produced by the draught of a single horse 
is ten times as great upon a railway, and thirty times as great upon a canal, 
as upon a well made road; yet a railway costs only about three times as 
much as a good turnpike road, and a canal about nine or ten times as much.” 
a With regard to the comparative advantages of canals and railways, so far 
as the present facts go, we may observe, that, if a horse power effects 
three times as much upon a canal as upon a railway, the canal costs about 
three times as much, and will of course require nearly the same rates or dues 
per ton to make the capital yield the same interest.” (Pages 206 and 207.) 

“ Railroads, as hitherto worked by horses, possess very little, if any, ad¬ 
vantage over canals; but railroads worked by the locomotive steam en¬ 
gine, have so decided a superiority, both as it regards time and expense, that 
there can be no question but they will be generally adopted wherever a new 
line of conveyance has become necessary, either from an increased trade, 
or from the exorbitant demands of canal proprietors ” (Page 185.) 

Here is the true secret of the imputed superiority of railroads to canals in 
England: the former are designed to break down a very lucrative monopoly, 
which had, in some cases, when this author wrote, swelled the profit of cer¬ 
tain canals so high, that, on that of the Trent and Mersey, as he informs his 
readers, £75 was the annual dividend on a single share of £100 original 
cost, which was selling in December, 1824, at £2,300 advance on the £100; 
yet this canal has three tunnels, one of 2,880 yards, and another of 1,241, 
in 22 miles, and two aqueducts, of which, that over the river Dove has 23 
arches. 


263 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

is not to be assumed as a standard to measure the relative cost of all railroads 
and canals. The canals of New York cost about 18,000 dollars a mile, 
those of Ohio have cost very little more than 11,000. The Farmington 
canal, in Connecticut, cost less than either. The canals of Pennsylvania 
will cost less, per mile, than her railroads. The disparity would have been 
greater, but for moral or political rather than physical causes. 

To proceed with the second object of inquiry, the cost of transportation 
on railroads and canals. 

The amount of tolls and the cost of transportation on the Baltimore road 
and the Potomac canal, are regulated, to a certain extent, by the provisions 
of their respective charters. The railroad being a close monopoly, and 
not a public highway like the canal, the transportation, as well as the tolls 
upon it, is left with the company, which is required not to exceed 4 cents 
per ton per mile, in its charge on the tonnage moving eastwardly; nor 
more than 6 cents on that moving westwardly. The canal tolls are limited, 
in both directions, to 2 cents only per ton per mile; and the charge for 
transportation on the canal, if its trade be active, in both directions, will 
probably be reduced, by competition, to one-third of a cent a ton. Under 
no circumstances, will it exceed one cent a ton per mile. So that, by the 
permission of their charters, the Railroad Company may charge 33 1-3 per 
cent, more for toll and transportation, one way, and 100 per cent, more the 
other way, than the Canal Company. If, however, departing from the limi¬ 
tations of their charters, these two companies were allowed equal nett pro¬ 
fits, then the relative magnitude of the burthens which they would impose 
on the people, supposing that profit to be equal, and their tonnage too, 
would depend, as stated in a former note on the relative cost of their works, 
their relative repairs, and their rate of transportation. If the relative cost of 
the construction of the canal and road be the same, then, on their respective 
an.nual repairs and rate of transportation. Now, the lock gates are almost 
the only perishable parts of a canal constructed of such materials, as com¬ 
pose that now passing up the valley of the Potomac. Its very wide and 
solid embankments of earth, often paved with stone, its massy walls, its 
locks, culverts, and aqueducts of durable freestone or granite, united by hy¬ 
draulic cement, will be strengthened, rather than impaired, by time. While 
every part of a railway exposed to the action of the weather, to the constant 
attrition of heavy cars, and heavier locomotive engines, moving with great 
velocity, and alike injurious to the road and its carriages, to say nothing of 
its wooden sills, for two-thirds of its route, or of its aqueduct of wood across 
a considerable river, is liable to gradual, though certain wear, and to ulti¬ 
mate destruction or continual repairs, from the very use which constitutes 
its profit. 

Although the late report of the President and Directors of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad Company forbears to include the repairs of any part of their 
road, or of their cars, among the expenses, involved in the collection of the 
tolls of nine months receipts, the suggestion, in the report of their chief en¬ 
gineer, that “ the durability of the road,” to use his own language, “ and of the 
cars, and especially of the wheels, would be promoted by the use of springs;” 
and again, that “the concussions upon the rails are very considerable, and 
are greatly augmented by an increase of the rapidity of the movement,” 
would indicate that some expenses , from these causes, had been already in¬ 
curred, and should be considered as involved in the receipts. 

To diminish such expenses, the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad Com- 


264 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

party are said, to employ several hands with brooms and scrapers, for every 
mile of their road, to cleanse it of dust; an expense, which the cheaper labor 
of England may possibly enable their road to bear; but which would, of it¬ 
self, much detract from the profit of any railroad, even amidst the most 
crowded population of America; to say nothing of the solitudes of the Al¬ 
leghany and its parallel ridges. 

Some of the British authorities in favor of the superior economy of rail¬ 
roads, were invoked to their aid, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com¬ 
pany in their early appeals to the public, and have been more recently 
quoted, with approbation, by their chief engineer; but they do not appear to 
have been sustained by the progress of that enterprise, either as regards the 
comparative cost of the road itself, or the comparative cheapness of its 
transportation . 

Of the last, we have not been allowed to judge at all; since two essential 
ingredients of any just estimate, are singularly omitted from the late annual 
report of the President and Directors, viz, the cost and repairs of the ne¬ 
cessary carriages; and the wear and tear , or repairs,of the road itself. 

If the acknowledged expenses of transportation bear the same proportion, 
to those which are omitted , that the experience of other railroads in Ame¬ 
rica warrant the belief, then, it is more than probable, that a just compari¬ 
son of the receipts and,disbursements of this company, for nine months of 
the present year, would bring them in debt; since “the moving power, 
drivers, and engine men, agents and conductors, depot expenses, oil, and” 
certain “contingencies,” &c., (amountingto 482 dollars,) required an outlay 
of very near 11,000, out of the gross receipts of 31,405 dollars, being, as 
the Superintendent says, “of 1 to 2.86.” Computing the 81,905 passen¬ 
gers on this road, who were attracted to it, mostly, as Mr. Woodville, the 
Superintendent, states, “by novelty or amusement,” at the allowance 
of 12 persons to a ton, and the entire tonnage of the nine months use of\this 
road, between Baltimore and Ellicott’s Mills, or for 13 miles, is about 
12,750 tons. * Of this, the greater part of the passengers, amounting to 6,825 
tons, travelled out and in, or about 26 miles; the commodities, 5,931 tons, 
it is presumed, in no instance, more than half that distance, or 13 miles. 
The whole operation, therefore, is equivalent to the carriage of 254,553 
tons a single mile; and the charge of $10,994 87 cents, for the moving 
power exerted in 9 months, on this railroad, is more than 4§ cents a ton 
per mile, totally excluding any allowance for profit^ or interest on the first 
cost of the road or of its carriages, the repairs of those carriages, or the ne¬ 
cessary repairs of the road in use. 

Against this estimate, it might be said, with truth, that the transportation 
of persons requires a greater number of carriages than the transportation of 
commodities of equal weight, since these may be packed in a less compass. 

* The Superintendent makes the total tonnage, no doubt, more correctly, “ amount to 
upwards of 1,100 tons per month;” which, allowing for the indefinite form of expression 
could not be supposed to swell the aggregate for the nine months much, if any thing, beyond 
10,000 tons. If so, the calculation here made is more favorable to the economy of this road 
than it should be, by more than 25 per cent., so far as the expense of the moving power is in¬ 
volved in it. He also expressly says, that, under the head of expenses of “ transportation, he 
docs not iijclude any charges for the construction, the repairs, or the wear and tear of wagons 
and cars; that branch of the service being under the immediate care and superintendence of a 
committee of the board,” who, it appears, have excluded any notice of it from the text of the 
report, and have not thought proper to say any thing about it in its voluminous appendix 
making, together a work of more than 130 pages. 


261 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The price of the excavation will depend on the quality of the earth. But that 
being supposed in this case to be such, as is ordinarily encountered, where nei¬ 
ther hard pan, slate, nor rock is in the way, 9 T 9 ff cents per cubic yard may be 
taken for the measure of its excavation, that being found to be the average 
rate of such excavation, throughout the entire Chesapeake and Ohio canal, 
for a distance of 4S miles. So that, if these three canals be charged with 
the same price, per cubic yard, for their excavation, the narrow and shal¬ 
low, as the wide and deep, which, for the first and second would be a very 
unfavorable estimate, then the canal, 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep, would be 
completed for $1,845 the mile; the canal, 48 feet wide and 5 deep, for 
g2,056; and the largest, for $3,040 per mile. 

If these several sums be compared with the lowest estimated cost of a rail¬ 
way of two tracks, laid on stone sills, the ratio of the cost of such a rail¬ 
road, to that of the smallest of these three canals, is as $13,000 to $1,845 
or near 7 to 1; of the 2d, as $13,000 to $2,056, or near 6$ to 1; and, of 
the largest, as $13,000 to $3,040, or near 4i to 1. 

Such, therefore, is the proportional cost of the cheapest practicable canals, 
of the above dimensions, when compared with the cheapest practicable rail¬ 
road of two tracks, laid on stone sills, where stone is very convenient. 

But it may be truly said, that it is very rarely, if ever, that a canal passes 
overground, as favorable, as that assumed above. To this, it may be as truly 
replied, that a railroad can as rarely be constructed, without any gradua¬ 
tion whatever of the surface of the earth, or any expense of masonry. Of 
the actual canal, along the Potomac valley, already constructed, the cheap¬ 
est mile, as will be seen in the second table of the third annual report, con¬ 
sists of the 46th and 47th sections, on both of which there was paid an extra 
price for the transportation of a part of the earth forming the embankments. 
This mile cost $4,064, or less than a third of the cost of the cheapest mile 
of two tracks, upon stone sills, of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, allowing 
nothing whatever for its graduation or masonry. 

If this comparison, although founded on actual experience, be objected to, 
on account of its assuming, as its basis, the most favorable ground both for 
canals and railroads, then, let the most costly mile, on these two lines of 
communication, be compared; and, although the disparity will be by no 
means so great, the dearest mile of this large canal, consisting of its 17th 
and 18th sections, in which an ascent of 48 feet is overcome by six locks, 
costing about $10,000 each, will be found to have been less expensive, by 
35 per cent., than the mile composed of the 4th and 5th sections of the first 
division of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, or the single mile a short dis¬ 
tance to the west of the former, consisting of a part of the 8th and the 9th 
sections of the same division of this road. 

If a series of connected miles of the railroad and canal be preferred for 
the terms of this comparison, let the 13 miles composing this first division of 
the former, be compared with any thirteen consecutive miles of the most 
expensive part of the canal, and the railroad will be found to have cost more 
than tfie canal, in the ratio of near 4 to 3. 

If, however, this be also objected to, because of the great cost, so far, of 
both works, take ,their corresponding and cheapest portions after climbing 
the granite ridge pierced by the Potomac and Patapsco rivers, as from the 
38th section of the canal, up to the “Point of Rocks,” being a distance, 
along the Potomac, of 47 sections, making, together, 24 miles. The cost 
of the grubbing, excavation, embankment, peddling, walling, and extra work 




262 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

of the 24 miles, amounts to to $285,960, or $11,876 50 cents a mile; to 
which, adding for a granite aqueduct, of 7 arches of 54 feet span each across 
the river Monocacy, costing singly $96,000; for 30 culverts and 3 cut stone 
locks, with their appurtenant houses, in all, SI71,847, or an average of 
$7,160 03 cents a mile; and the average cost of the 24 miles will be 
$19,036 53 cents, exclusive of such contingencies as are applicable to both 
works. Allowing, for these, ten per cent., they will swell this average to 
$20,940 18 cents per mile. Of this cost, but a very inconsiderable part now 
rests on mere estimates, the work on the canal, except the Monocacy aque¬ 
duct, having been very nearly completed at the date of the annual report, from 
which, the basis of this calculation is derived. 

Recurring, in like manner, to the last annual report, made by the Presi¬ 
dent and Directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, it will 
be found, that, allowing nothing for the necessary fixtures to surmount the 
inclined planes at Parr’s ridge, for neither toll-houses, nor depots, nor for 
the cost of a wooden, instead of a stone bridge, across the Monocacy river, near 
which, it seems, there is no stone; nor for the fact that five-sixths of the 
whole of this part of the railroad is hastily laid on wooden sills, it is stated 
in this report, distinctly, that its graduation and masonry alone will cost 
$8,532 16 the mile, for the distance of 54| miles above Ellicott’s mills, or 13 
miles from Baltimore, and that the other charges will amount to $11,628 per 
mile, if computed at the average cost per mile, of a double set of tracks upon 
the entire stem of the road, (67§ miles,) and of a single track, on the lateral 
road to Frederick, (of 3§ miles,) being one-third laid with stone rails, (i. e. in¬ 
cluding the first division of 13 miles,) and the remaining two-thirds, of wood. 

From the one-third laid on stone sills, should be deduced the 13 miles 
next to Baltimore, leaving, out of the entire 58 miles above EllicotPs mills, 
including the single track to Frederick of 3 \ miles, but about 9 miles, or 
one-sixth of this road laid on stone sills. 

Adding the $11,628 a mile, which is somewhat more than the average 
cost of a double track on wooden sills, to the $S,532 16, the average cost 
allowed for graduation and masonry, and the sum total of the cost per mile 
of this road, is $20,160 16 . But if the expense of the fixtures at Parr’s ridge, 
estimated at $40,000 in another part of this report, be added, and, with it, 
the further cost of toll houses and depots, thisaverage will be swelled to a sum 
exceeding, without any allowance for contingencies, the cost per mile of the 
canal; and let it be remarked, that, of this average cost, a large proportion is 
founded on mere estimates of expenses yet to be incurred. If a due allow¬ 
ance he made for a bridge of stone arches over the Monocacy, instead of a 
wooden superstructure, and for the substitution, hereafter, of stone for wood¬ 
en sills, where, stone is said to be difficult to be procured, and for contingen¬ 
cies also, the railroad will be found to exceed the canal, in cost, by near the 
same per centage, on the more easy, as on the more difficult parts of the routes 
of the two works. Nor should it be forgotten, that this last comparison is of a 
railroad through an open country, allowing a choice of way, for a work, not 
confined to a certain inclination in the mile; while the canal must, of necessi¬ 
ty, hug the parent of its existence, the Potomac river, and cross all its tribu¬ 
tary streams, where widest and deepest, because near their mouths. 

When the railroad shall have entered the valley of the Potomac, and 
encountered the same disadvantages with the canal, its masonry as well as 
its graduation, will rise in cost much beyond the estimate here admitted. 

So much for the relative cost of these works , which, for many reasons, 


265 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

That a load of the former is more elastic, and, therefore, less injurious to 
the road. This objection is met by the greater velocity with which they 
are transported, the greater number of wheels which they bring in contact 
with the road, and its greater injury, from the friction of those wheels. On 
these considerations is founded, no doubt, the higher charge for passengers. 

Assuming 4£ cents, per ton per mile, to be the actual measure of that 
part of the expense, shown by the superintendent of transportation on this 
road, to have been involved in the carriage of persons and property upon it, 
in the first nine months of the current year; and adding, as is warranted 
by the report of the superintendent of the Mauch Chunk railroad, 
cents per ton per mile, for the repairs of the carriages; and, as the former road 
is of much better quality than his, only half a cent a ton per mile, or one- 
half of his estimate, for its repairs, there will result 6 cents a ton per mile, 
as the cost of transportation, in an experiment of nine months, on the first 
13 miles of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the materials of which were 
all new, and as perfect as the expenditure of 60,000 dollars a mile, the cost 
of tin's part of the road, could make them. 

The conformity of this estimate , which is b}^ no means exaggerated, to 
the acknowledged cost of transportation, for the first six months of the same 
period, on the equally new, and much more costly, and, it is presumed, 
more perfectly constructed Liverpool and Manchester railroad, greatly con¬ 
firms its probable truth. 

A brief transcript of the Mauch Chunk Courier, from the annual report 
laid before the stockholders of the Liverpool and Manchester railroad, at 
their meeting in September last, gives, for the gross receipts on that road, 
for the first half of the present year, from the carriage of persons alone, 
£43,600 Is. 3d/.; for merchandise, £21,S75; and for coals, £2IS bs. 2d.; 
making the total amount of gross revenue £65,693 13s. Id .; from which 
is to be deducted the sum of £35,379 for the gross expenditure involved 
in the collection of this revenue, including an inconsiderable land tax, (the 
stock is free of all assessment by the charter,) and a sum, not stated in this 
transcript, paid for interest on an outstanding debt of the company. The 
nett revenue for the half year, was, as there stated, £30,314 13s. 7 d., on 
: an investment of capital exceeding £S00,000 sterling, or, very near, it is 
believed, 4,000,000 of dollars, making due allowance for every thing, and 
including the difference of exchange between English and American cur¬ 
rency. 

Although neither the sum paid as land tax, nor the interest included in 
f the six months disbursements, is stated in the extracts from this report, here 
i quoted, at second hand,* they supply the following particulars, which answer 
! the same purpose: That the actual receipts “ for the goods carried,” were 
equal to 10$ shillings sterling, about 245 cents per ton, for the entire road 
i of thirty miles, (stated in a late work to be 29f miles,) and that the expense 
i chargeable on their transportation, amounted to 7.?. 7 d. a*ton, about 181? 

| cents; leaving 2s. Sd. per ton, or 63| cents, as the profit on the stock of 
the company; and making the total cost of transportation six cents a ton per 
mile, on this new, truly magnificent, and, it is presumed, perfectly con- 
! structed railroad of two tracks, laid on a solid foundation of stone. The 
; receipts for passengers, in gross, £43,600 7s. 3d ., amounted to 4s. 7? d. 
i each; and the expenses of their transportation to 2s. 6\d.; making the nett 

* The entire report is added to this document, and is correctly quoted above. 




2G6 [ Doc. No. 101. 3 

profit, on each passenger, 2s. Id.-, or very near the same as on a ton of 
goods. 

What, though not immediately connected with the present inquiry, is 
well worthy of notice, in passing along, is that the receipts for passengers 
doubled the receipts for tha transportation of property. That the total sum 
received for the latter, indicates the whole tonnage of goods, for the six 
months, not to have much exceeded 40,0G0 tons, which, doubled for the 
year, makes but a fourth of the tonnage of the Erie canal of New York; and 
that this road, from the second sea port to the largest manufacturing town 
in England, through a country abounding in coal, the source of the greatest 
revenue on the most profitable lines of inland navigation in Great Britain, 
yielded, in six months, for the carriage of this primum mobile of all the 
British work shops, but £21S Gs. 2d. sterling.* 

The present object, however, for introducing the preceding facts, is to 
confirm, as they undeniably do, the estimates made by the highest American 
authorities, of the relative cost of transj)ortation on railroads and canals, 
by reference to the most perfect railroad that has yet been constructed—it 
may be added, over favorable ground, in a country where manual labor is 
so cheap that it can be economically employed to sweep the road; where 
the arts have reached the greatest degree of improvement, and their inge¬ 
nuity has been excited by high rewards, to invent and construct the most 

* How small a part of the imports of Manchester, through Liverpool, is comprehended in 
these 40,000 tons, which comprehend the trade both to and from that sea port, will be the 
more apparent from the following description of the trade of the former, from the Edinburgh 
Gazetteer, published in 1822, vol. IV. p. 135. 

“ The greater part of the cotton trade of Great Britain centers in Manchester, extending 
around in all directions, to Furness on the north and south, and to Leeds and Liverpool on the 
east and west.” The various branches of the manufacture are carried on more or loss through 
all this district, but by far the most extensive, especially the spinning, in Manchester. Man¬ 
chester is, besides, the general depot from which the raw material is distributed through all 
parts of the district, and in which all this scattered merchandise is again collected, when fin¬ 
ished, into a centre, to be again expanded over a wider circle.” 

Though various causes have concurred to render Manchester a great emporium of manufac¬ 
tures, the foundation of the whole is unquestionably laid in the natural situation of the place, 
on the banks of a navigable river, in the midst of inexhaustible fields of coal, near the centre of 
the kingdom, and capable of having its external and. internal communications greatly improved 
by art. . 

“ By means of the canal which proceeds from it to different parts of the country, Manchester 
enjoys a communication, by water, both with the eastern and western seas, being situated di¬ 
rectly in the lino of navigation which here extends across the island from shore to shore; while 
it is equally open to the north and south by various branches from the main trunk. The Irwell 
and Mersey form an easy access to Liverpool. The act for making those rivers navigable, 
passed in 1720; and, in 1755, this communication was still more facilitated by the famous canal 
of the Duke of Bridgewater, from the Duke’s coal works to Manchester, and from thence to 
Runcorn, which, at the same time, uniting with the grand trunk, or Staffordshire canal, extends 
the navigation southwards to the Trent and Severn, to Nottingham, Birmingham, and Bristol. 

“ In 1795, 25 boats, of 55 tons each, were employed on the Mersey and Irwell, plying between 
Manchester and Liverpool, and making 36 trips a year; and on the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal 
there were 42 boats of 50 tons each, which made 80 trips a year.” “ The Leeds and Liver¬ 
pool canal runs greatly to the north of Manchester.” “On the north, the Duke of Bridgewater’s 
canal is prolonged by L*igh, to the Leeds and Liverpool canal, near the coal district of Wigan.” 
Under the Liverpool hoad, vol. III., page 786, it is said, “ The Duke of Bridgwater’s canal, be¬ 
gun in 1761, had opened a communication to Manchester much superior to that of the Mersey 
and Irwell.” Yet the annoxed table, showing the value of the stock vested in tho former 
navigation to bo 5$ times its original cost, and, its dividend, 20 per cent., proves that, though 
inferior in value to the public, it finds, no doubt, at cheaper rates of transportation, very exten¬ 
sive employment. 

In 1S19, tho tonnage of Liverpool was S67,313 tons, or more than that of the wholo United- 
States of America at the same period. The duties on it amounted to £110,127 ls« Sd. sterling- 


267 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

perfect locomotive engines; and where the coal which gives these engines 
motion, is so cheap as, under the obligations of a charter, to be sold seven 
miles from the pit, in the town of Manchester, at 3 \d. for a bushel of seven 
score, which is at the rate of 2d. sterling for the Pennsylvania bushel of 
80 lbs. weight. 

Ten shillings sterling, or about 240 cents, American currency, was the 
price to which the undertakers ofjhis enterprise bound themselves to reduce 
the cost of transportation between Manchester and Liverpool, being, as has 
been shown, 8 cents a ton per mile. But the cost of this reduction is found 
to consume, for carriage only , rather more than three-fourths of this sum; 
or to exceed 6 cents a ton per mile; leaving but 2 cents a ton per mile to 
pay the interest on the capital invested in the road, and its necessary appur¬ 
tenances; which falls little short of 4 millions, and may, possibly, be found 
to exceed that amount; allowing nothing for the interest lost during the six 
years’ progress of this very heavy expenditure. 

Here, again, is seen, a verification of the results of the experience of the 
ingenious superintendent of the Mauch Chunk railroad; who, long since, 
informed the public, that while a velocity of fifteen or twenty miles an hour 
(which he, then said, could be extended to sixty,) was very easily attained, 
and actually attempted on that railroad, such was the injury occasioned to 
the cars and the road, from such rapid motion, as to render the transporta¬ 
tion, nearly as costly, as on an ordinary turnpike. 

The description given by travellers lately returning from England, of the 
ruins of cars and rails scattered along the margin of the Liverpool and Man¬ 
chester road, farther corroborates Mr. White’s statement; although it is very 
evident that, while so large a proportion of the revenue of this railway is 
derived from the carriage of persons, they must be offered the attraction of 
quick motion and economy of time, to tempt them to pay the fare of five 
shillings for travelling on a railroad, the same distance, for which they would 
pay, on a canal, less than a moiety of that sum. Mr. Fairbairn states, in 
a work quoted in a former note of this appendix, that twopence a head 
would pay the expense of the mere carriage or trackage of persons, exclu¬ 
sive of tolls, through the fifty-four miles of canal navigation between Glas¬ 
gow and Edinburg. 

That so little merchandise is transported on the railroad from Liverpool 
to Manchester, between which, the water carriage used to be fifteen shillings 
sterling a ton, either by the Mersey and Irwell* navigation, or by the river 
Mersey, for sixteen miles, and the Duke of Bridgewater’s, now the Marquis 
of Stafford’s canal, of twenty-nine and a half more, is, without doubt, to be 
ascribed to the breaking up of those profitable monopolies, and the recent 
reduction of the price of carriage, on both those lines of water communica¬ 
tion. But that, in this competition, the victory must ever remain on the 
side of the cheaper intercourse, by water, is evident, from two considera¬ 
tions: first, that on the same portion of any improved canal communication 

i 

* The Mersey and Irwell navigation, above Runceorn gap, is mixod of still water, produced 
by dams and locks, and occasional canals. 

A third line of navigation, though much more circuitous than cither of the above, may also 
bs said to connect Liverpool with Manchester. It is the Liverpool and Leeds canal, and the 
cut from Wigan, by Leigh, to Worsley mills, and thence, to Manchester, by the first canal con¬ 
structed by the Duke of Bridgewater, which now crosses the Liverpool and Manchester railroad, 
within a mile and a half of those pits; whence, by the obligations of his charter, that enterprising 
nobleman was compelled to deliver coals, at Manchester, distant seven miles from their entrance, 
at about four cents for the Pennsylvania bushel. 


26S 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

in America—and it cannot be less true in England—ninety cents would pay 
the reasoable toll, as well as freight, on the carriage of a ton of goods for 
thirty miles; and 135 cents, for a distance, equal to the entire voyage of 
forty-five miles, from Liverpool to Manchester, by the circuitous route of 
the Bridgewater canal and the river Mersey: and next, that the imposing 
opening, and very near twelve months’ use of this very costly railway, so 
far from reducing the antecedent revenue^f the Mersey and Irwell naviga¬ 
tion, has enabled its proprietors to recover from the panic of the years 182S 
and ’29, and to augment their dividend from 35 to 40 per cent., or to five 
per cent, beyond its extent ten years ago. (See the table, post.) 

The price of their stock has, in that time, it is true, fallen from to 51 
times its original cost. This depression may, also, be temporary; though, 
much for the public benefit, canals will, hereafter, be compelled, by the 
wholesome competition of railroads, to reduce those exorbitant profits, 
which injudicious charters, framed without any limitation, but in the maxi¬ 
mum rate of tolls, have hitherto allowed them to divide. 

It has been already noticed, that the charter of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal Company, pursuing the policy of the act establishing the Virginia 
fund for internal improvement, limits the profit of their stock to fifteen per 
cent, per annum; a regulation to which no just exception can be taken; for, 
while the receipts of a canal will always be proportioned to the magnitude of 
its tonnage, its wear and tear, or annual outlay for repairs, will not. In this 
respect, as in so many others, canals have, obviously, great advantages over 
the best railroads; the repairs of which must be proportioned to their use, 
and increase with their gross revenue. 

The last annual report of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad Com¬ 
pany confirms the preceding rumor, so extensively circulated in the United 
States, that the Bolton Bury and Manchester Canal Company, have ob¬ 
tained the consent of the British Parliament to substitute a railroad for their 
present canal. 

To rebut the inference already drawn from this solitary fact, to prejudice the 
American public against all canals, there is subjoined, to this note, a late es¬ 
say from a public gazette, which, while it demonstrates the expediency of 
this substitution, as conclusively proves, that no general inference can be 
deduced from it, to the prejudice of inland navigation, when compared with 
railroads. 

Conclusively, as the preceding facts, derived from the joint experience of 
England and America, appear to settle the relative merits of railroads and 
canals, it is probable that, while the present delusion on this subject, so ge¬ 
nerally pervades both countries, immediate assent will not be yielded to 
their force. 

Canals can be constructed only where a sufficient supply of water exists 
to fill them. They must pursue the valleys of those rivers whose fountains 
feed them. Railroads, on the other hand, naturally seek the driest plains, 
avoiding, where practicable, water courses and alluvial lands. They have 
an ubiquity of locomotion which adapts them, if not to the real interests, to 
the illusory hopes of villages, towns, and cities, which no canal can ever be 
expected to reach: and those who advocate their exclusive use, know, full 
well, how to profit by this quality. Hence, a whole country may be set 
in commotion, by promises of railroads to intersect it in every possible 
direction. Such is the present excitement in the United States. Such has 
been recently, and, perhaps, continues to be,the excitement in England: such 


269 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

was once, the excitement, though it soon subsided, in the same country, at the 
time of the completion of the Croydon railroad, in the county of Surry. 

This road was finished in 1802, under the eye, almost, of her great com¬ 
mercial and political metropolis; for its distance from the capital of the Bri¬ 
tish empire is but eight miles; and it is crossed by the public highway, be¬ 
tween London and Epsom, a village of no little note, for its periodical races, 
its mineral waters, and the beautiful scenery of its neighborhood. 

Yet, a very short period ago, (less than two years,) no railroads stock had 
| reached an advance of one hundred per cent, above par, in the English 
j market; while the following were, at that time, the prices of the several 
canal stocks comprehended in the subjoined table. 

The annexed table of the prices of canal and railway stocks, in the Lon¬ 
don market, at various times, is composed, in part, from the trade list of the 
day, which is published weekly, by an assistant clerk of the bills of entry 
of the British customs, and maybe, consequently, deemed to have an offi- 
| cial sanction. 

The table comprises only thirty-fiye, of more than one hundred canals, 
i in Great Britain, and those the most profitable. 

This table furnishes the best, because incontrovertible evidence, of the 
estimation of canal stocks, in England, at the several periods to which it re- 
i fers, between March, 1S21, and November, 1831. 





270 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


DESCRIPTION and statement of the Prices of the Slock of 


Names of tho several Ca¬ 
nals and Lines of Navi¬ 
gation. 

Original cost of 
each share, in 
pounds sterl’g. 

| 

No. of shares. 

! 

Price of ea. share 

in 1821.* 

Dividend on each 

share, at that 

time. 

Price of the same 

in March, 1828. 

Dividend at the 

same time. 

Price of ea. share 

in Jan. 1831. [ 

(Trade List.) ! 


£. s. 


£. 

£. s. (1. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

Ardrossan 

- 


- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Barnesley 

160 

5,720 

300 

13 

- 

- 

215 

Birmingham 

17 10 

4.000 

203 

12 10 

565 

20 

270 

Bolton and Bury - 

250 

477 

- 

- 

- 

- 

106 

Carlisle - 

50 

1,600 

490 





Chesterfield 

100 

1,500 

150 

8 

120 

8 

170 

Coventry - 

100 

500 

1,200 

44 

999 

41 

800 

Cromford - 

100 

460 

400 

19 

- 

_ 

420 

Derby ... 

100 

600 

150 

7 10 

- 

. 

130 

Ercwash ... 

100 

251. 

1,400 

72 

1,000 

58 

700 

Forth and Clyde - 

100 

1,297 

570 

25 

- 

_ 

600 

Glamorganshire 

100 

600 

250 

13 12 8 

. 

_ 

290 

Grand Junction 

100 

11,600 

307 

13 

218 

9 

243 

Grantham ... 

150 

749 

215 

9 

- 

_ 

210 

Leeds and Liverpool 

100 

2,897^ 

395 

16 

278 

10 

395 

Leicester - 

100 

540 

325 

17 

260 

10 

220 

Loughborough 

100 

70 

4,000 

200 

2,400 

119 

1,800 

Milton Mowbray - 

100 

250 

240 

11 

170 

8$ 

200 

Mersey and Erwell 

100 

500 

825 

35 

650 

30 

600 

Monmouthshire 

100 

2,409 

215 

10 

_ 

_ 

239 

Monkland 

100 

101 

_ 

• 

. 

_ 

90 

Neath - 

100 

247 

550 

15 

- 


300 

Nottingham 

150 

500 

290 

12 

. 

_ 

290 

Oxford ... 

100 

1,786 

670 

32 

640 

32 

500 

Shrewsbury 

125 

500 

210 

10 

- 

_ 

250 

Shropshire 

125 

500 

135 

7 

- 

_ 

140 

Somerset Coal 

50 

800 

170 

10 

_ 


166 

Stafford and Worcester 

140 

700 

800 

40 

642 

40 

760 

Stourbridge 

145 

SOO 

220 

12 

_ 


220 

Stroudwater 

150 

200 

450 

23 


_ 

480 

Swansea - - - 

100 

533 

280 

12 10 

_ 

_ 

230 

Trent and Mcrsoy 

101 

2,600 

820 

37 10 

900 

75 

620 

Warwick and Birmingham 

100 

1,000 

265 

13 

210 

11 

220 

Warwick and Napton 

100 

980 

205 

12 

235 

10 

220 

Wyrley and Essington 

125 

800 

160 

6 

- 

- 

115 


Prices, at the same dales, of the Stock 


Liverpool and Manchester 

100 

5,100 





181 

Cromford, High Pt. 
Canterbury 

100 

1,600 

_ 

_ 




50 

500 

_ 

. 

25 


25 

Cheltenham 

100 

330 

. 

_ 

78 


78 

Croydon ... 

65 

1,000 

. 

_ 


m 


Jersey - 

60 

1,000 






Severn and Wye - 

50 

3,762 

. 

_ 

23 

1 11 

19 10 

Forest of Dean 

50 

2,500 



45 

2 16 

45 

Stockton and Darlington - 

100 

1,000 



160 

5 

200 

Monmouth 

50 

553 






Clarence ... 

100 

1,500 

- 

- 

- 

- 

40 


* Price in 1821, from the Monthly Magazine, transcribed from the Report of the Ohio 
" From the above it appears that canal stocks in England, of the medium original cost of 
worth £9,287, more than six times their original cost.” 







































271 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


certain Canals and Railways in England, at various periods. 


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REMARKS. 

£. 

8. d. 

£. 

£. 

d. 



£ • 

Jinno. 


10 


- 



334 

170 

253,000 

1799 



210 

10 


14 

120 

97,000 

1812 


12 

10 

244 

12 

10 

224 

204 

115,000 

1772 


6 


106 

6 


15 

187 

97,000 

1797 


8 


170 

8 


46 

380 

160,000 

1776 


44 


750 

50 


27 

96 

120,000 

1790 


19 


410 

19 


18 

80 

80,000 

1794 


6 


120 

6 


9 

78 

90,000 

1794 


70 


600 

54 


11 | 

181 


1797 


27 

00 

*—< 

600 

27 


35 

321 

421,525 

1790 


13 

290 

13 

12 8 





13 


235 

13 


93^ 

760 

3,000,000 

1805 

• 

10 


395 

9 


33f 

148 

124,000 

1799 


20 


405 

20 


130 

841 

600,500 

1774 


13 

10 

211 

17 


214 

230 

84,000 


180 


2,550 

180 


94 

41 


1776 


2 

10 

190 

2 

10 


- 

• 


Navigation. 

40 

12 


525 

208 

90 

40 

12 


12 

1,057 

96 

275,330 

1796 

Navigation. 

Inclined planes. 

18 


300 

18 


14 


55,000 

1798 


12 


245 

12 


15 



1802 


32 


510 

32 


914 

269 

330,000 

1790 


11 


205 

11 


174 

1.55 

70,000 

1797 

\ 

8 


140 

8 


74 

453 

47,500 

1792 

> Inclined planes. 

10 

10 

160 

10 

10 

84 

138 

185,000 

1802 

J 

36 


555 

36 


464 

394 

100,000 

1772 


11 


220 

11 

■ 

5 

191 

30,000 

1776 


23 


480 

23 


8 

108 

20,000 

1796 


35 


203 

15 


174 

366 

90,000 

1798 


37 : 

10 

620 

37 

10 





12 


230 

12 


25 


180,000 

1799 


12 


210 

12 


15 

• 

130,000 

1799 


6 


115 

6 


23 

270 

160,000 

1794 



of Railways, in England. 



205 

8 

29* 


800,000 

1830 

_ 

20 





. 

35 






_ 

78 






- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

1803 

1 2 

17 

0 17 





2 10 

33 

2 4 





- 

230 

6 





- 

65 







Canal Commissioners, of January 21st, 1824; to which they add the following 1 remark:— 
£ 1,525, pay a medium dividend of £485, exceeding- 31| percent, per annum; and are now 





















































272 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Of the lines of water communication described in the preceding table, 
that of the Mersey and Irwell navigation, and one other, not included in 
the table, because its stock, the property of a single individual, (the Mar¬ 
quis of Stafford,) is not in market, are the channels of trade, with which 
the Liverpool and Manchester railroad Jenters into immediate competition. 

The extension of this railroad from Manchester to Leeds, and to Lon¬ 
don, would extend its competition to several other canals included in this 
table, as the Leeds and Liverpool, Grand Junction, Trent and Mersey, the 
Oxford, and to several others, less directly. 

It is remarkable, however, that the prices of the stocks of the canals near¬ 
est to Liverpool, have fallen less, than those at a distance from it. While 
that of the Mersey and Irwell navigation had, in January last, sunk more 
than £300 on the share, its dividend, far from falling off, had risen 10 per 
cent, beyond that of 1828, and five above that of 1S21. The price of its 
stock is still 5% times its original cost. 

The Leeds and Liverpool canal stock, as well as dividend had, in like 
manner, risen, the latter 4 per cent, since 1821, and 10 per cent, since 1S28, 
when the railroad had inspired the greatest alarm; the former, after falling 
at that period, from £395 a share to 27S, mounted up again, and was selling 
on the first of November last, at £405 a share, or at more than four times 
its original price. 

Of the thirty-five lines of improved navigation enumerated in the pre¬ 
ceding table, the dividends of the stock of seventeen have been stationary, 
or very nearly so, for ten years past; six only have sustained any diminu¬ 
tion; while as many have sensibly improved in value. 

The Loughborough dividend, which was once £200 on the share of 100 , 
and had fallen to 119, had, at the last accounts, again risen to ISO, and its 
stock, which had exceeded £4000 the share, and fallen at one time to 1S00, 
was, in the last month, at £2550 the share. 

Although all the canal stocks in England have been affected more or less, 
in the estimate of their value, by the expected application of steam as the 
propellingpowerofrailroads,and by theapprehended introductionof railroads 
in the immediate vicinity of all the most productive canals, but one canal in 
that country has, as yet, been proposed to be converted into a railroad, and 
that, from considerations very peculiar to itself. 

These are so minutely, and it is believed, so correctly detailed, in a re¬ 
cent essay which appeared in the National Intelligencer, that it has been 
deemed expedient, as well as proper, to attach it to this note. 

The length, lockage, and cost of the canals included in the preceding ta¬ 
ble, are derived from a work of unquestioned authority, by M. Huerne de 
Pcmrneuse , membre de la Chambre des Deputes , originally written in 
French, and, it is believed, not yet translated into English. Its other facts 
are from the “ Trade Lists. ” 

It is obvious, under the circumstances disclosed by this table, that rail¬ 
road stocks, yielding, on the same amount of capital, a half, a fourth, or a 
tenth even, of the profit of certain canals, in the same neighborhood, would 
furnish profitable investments for money. And engineers of every descrip¬ 
tion, therefore, and pamphleteers too, would not he wanting, after the canal 
system of that kingdom had been already pushed to the utmost limits of its 
land and water, to recommend railways in preference to canals. 



273 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


The following receipts on certain American canals, charging for toll and 
transportation together, not more than three cents a ton per mile; two 
cents being the average toll, and one cent the price of transportation, de¬ 
serve consideration here. 

To show that a canal may be profitable, with a toll, not exceeding an average 
amount on its tonnage, of two cents a ton per mile, it may not be immaterial 
to notice the total amount of tolls on the New York canals, which have cost 
about $1S,000 a mile, or about millions, and the Schuylkill navigation, 
the stock of which is now, at an advance in the American market, of near 
one hundred per cent, on the share of $100. 

Extracts from the letters of Hamilton, containing “ A brief view of 
the system of internal improvement oj the Stale of Pennsylvania,’ 9 
by M. Carey, M A. P. S., and of the Antiquarian Society, publish¬ 
ed in Philadelphia,* in 1831. 

“ New York did not begin to collect tolls on her canals, except on a very 
small scale, before the fall of 1822, above five years from the time when 
they were commenced. 


“ Canal tolls, 1821, 

- 

- 

- 

$2,220 

1822, 

- 

- 

- 

44,4S6 

1823, 

- 

- 

- 

S9,9S8 

1824, 

- 

- 

- 

319,320 

1S25, 

- 

- 

- 

- 521,345 

1826, 


- 

- 

- 750,759 

1S27, 

- 

- 

- 

847,759 

1S2S, 


- 

- 

S97,265 

1S29, 

- 

- 

- 

771,6S5 

1830, 

. 

- 

- 

- 1,056,922 

1S31, 

- 

- 

- 

- 1,193,435 3 


canal, in 1830: 

Barrels of flour, 
ashes, 
provisions, 
salt, 

whiskey, 

Hogsheads of whiskey , 

Boxes of glass, 

Barrels of lime, 

Bushels of wheat, - 

corn, rye, and oats, 
barley, - 
Cords of wood, 

Feet of timber, 

Shingles, 

Feet of lumber, 


396,900 
25,670 
22,008 
42,601 
28,207 
1,42C 
6,374 
2,404 
209,011 
114.9S9 
182,783 
12,976 
31,621 
11,810,000 
25,832,142 


a New York is destitute of coal, one of the greatest sources of canal tolls. 
She, it is true, derives a small supply of iron from the borders of Lake 
Champlain. But that the amount is insignificant, appears from the fact, that 
the total tolls of the Champlain canal, up and down, were, last year, only 
89,053 dollars.” 

35 



£74 


[ Doc. No. 101. 2 


“ The tolls of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, last year, were 14S, 2 65 
'dollars; of which, 87,195 dollars were received on coal, being about sixty 
per cent, of the whole.” 

The supplies not only of iron, but of lime, for manure, as well as cement, 
must depend on the vicinity of coal to the ore bank, and the quarry. 


Increase of tolls on the Schuylkill Navigation. 


Yicars. 

Tolls 
on coal. 

Total tolls. 

Tonnage. 

Price of stock: shares, $ 100 each. 

1825 


15,775 


January, 1S26, =* 75 to 80 

1826 

- 

43,10S 

32,404 

“ ' # 1S27, = 95 to 101 

1827 

33,317 

5S,149 

65,501 

“ * 1S28, = 101 to 102* 

as2s 

46,202 

87,171 

105,462 

“ 1S29, = 100 to 101 

1S29 

77,032 

120,039 

154,504 

“ 1S30,= 160 to 165 

1830 

87,195 

14S,163 

ISO,785 

“ 1831, = 176 to ISO 


The works of this canal “ are, in extent, about 108 miles; commencing 
at the Lancaster Schuylkill bridge, and ending at Mount Carbon: of which 
62 miles are by canals, and 49 by pools in the river. The number of houses 
for lock-keepers, is 65; the number of locks below Reading, 39; and above, 
81; being, in the whole, 120, (of which 2S are guard-locks,) overcoming a 
fall of 588 feet.” 

In 1826, the amount paid for this improvement, was $ 1,704,94S 80 
for land, - - 63,405 64 

for damages, - - 39,701 73 


Total cost, - - $ 1,808,056 17 

exclusive of interest on loans, and securities. 

In the same annual report of this company, from which the above is ex¬ 
tracted, is the following testimony in favor of large canals: “ The pools 
having to vv paths along them, area very important, and, it is believed, when 
finished, will be a favorite part of the navigation, with those who use them; 
for it is a fact worthy of notice, that a horse, towing a boat, will, with great¬ 
er ease, go at the rate of four miles an hour, in a pool, than three miles in a 
canal.” 

This proposition is in accordance with the experiments of the French 
academicians, on broad and narrow canals; and corroborates the policy which 
has given such enlarged dimensions to the Chesapeake and Ohio canal; while, 
in every other respect, the navigation of the eastern section of the Chesa¬ 
peake and Ohio canal will be much less obstructed by locks, in proportion 
to its length, than the Schuylkill navigation; the stock of which is now near, 
or quite, 100 per cent, above par. 


From the National Intelligencer. 

“Messrs . Gales 4* Seaton: —To an impartial press, whatever tends to 
guard the public mind from delusion, and especially in relation to topics 
©f national interest, must be acceptable. 

















275 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

u I confidently, therefore, anticipate your ready admission into your use¬ 
ful columns, of the correction of an error current in the gazettes of the 
United States, that canals are, every where in England, giving place to 
railroads: and, as conclusive evidence of this, that the Bolton, Bury, and 
Manchester Canal Company, have offered their canal for the site of a rail¬ 
way. 

“ The first position is no further true, than that, as almost all the canals 
that could be made, and many that ought never to have been made, have, 
long since, been constructed in England; and as some of them have proved 
the richest monopolies known to the world, railroads have, of late, arisen 
to compete with them, for a share of their dividends. These have been, 
and still are, so considerable, as to occasion an advance, on the original price 
of canal stocks, in some cases of a thousand, in others of two thousand, and 
three thousand, and in one case, of more than four thousand per cent. 

“ But, as I have suggested, very near, or quite half of the canals of Eng¬ 
land, having great lockage, little water, and less trade, have proved, from 
their very outset, to the present day, of little, or no value to the proprie¬ 
tors of their stock. This has, indeed, in some cases, so completely disap¬ 
peared from the money market, that neither the weekly “ Trade” nor any 
other “ list” of prices, pretends to state what is its selling price. 

“ Examine, not the present merely, but the past condition ©f the canal, 
connecting Manchester with the towns of Bolton and Bury, since this is 
triumphantly adduced as a canal—the only one, indeed, so quoted, which has 
been offered, by its proprietors, as part of the site of a railway, to be con¬ 
structed between Manchester and Leeds. 

“ This canal, I have seen: but I do not, for that reason, ask the least reli¬ 
ance on my authority for the facts respecting it, which I am about to state. 

“ Rees’ Encyclopaedia, the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, Bradshaw’s 
maps of the canals and railways of the midland counties of England, and 
similar sources of intelligence, may be appealed to, for the verification of 
my statements: and, to them, I refer the reader. 

“ The canal between Bolton and Manchester, one of the straighest in 
England, is eleven miles long: the branch to Bury intersects it, three miles 
from Bolton, and is, in length, about four miles; so that, both together, be¬ 
ing the property of one company, make 15 miles; and while the distance 
of Bolton from Manchester is 11, that of Bury from the same place is 12 
miles. 

‘‘There are 12 locks on this canal, and two costly aqueducts over the ri¬ 
vers Irvvell andLeven. It was fed, in 1795, by the former of these rivers, but 
in 1802 it was found necessary to construct a reservoir at Ratcliffe. Its 
construction exceeded in price 30,000 dollars a mile. The shares of its 
stock, in number 447, originally cost ^250 sterling; were selling, as far 
back as 1824, at .€112 sterling each; having then fallen below one half of 
their former price. 

“ The object of this canal was to reach Liverpool through Manchester, by 
the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal, with which it is there united by means of 
the Medlock brook. From Manchester, the cheapest and safest water com¬ 
munication with Liverpool is by the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal, of 29 
miles, to Runcorn, where that canal enters the river Mersey, afhd thence, 
along the open bosom of that broad river, often too rough for canal boats, 
16 miles more, to the harbor of Liverpool. 

“ The whole water communication of Bolton, with Liverpool, thus com- 


£76 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

posed, is therefore 56 miles in length. The cost of carriage, on the part of 
this line of intercourse, between Manchester and Liverpool, the memorial 
to the British Parliament, in behalf of the Liverpool and Manchester rail¬ 
way, stated to be 15s. sterling per ton; which that memorial promised to re¬ 
duce, by means of the railroad, to 10s. a ton. The cost of carriage cannot 
be less, from Bolton, which, by water, is 11 miles farther than Manchester, 
from Liverpool. 

“ But the distance of Bolton, from Liverpool, over land , is less, by three 
miles, than that of Manchester from Liverpool, by the recently constructed 
Manchester and Liverpool railway. This railway, moreover, approaches 
within two and a half miles of the town of Leigh, at a point 17£ miles from 
Liverpool; and from Leigh to Bolton, a distance of about seven miles, a rail¬ 
road has been already constructed, by authority of an act of Parliament, 
which passed in 1828. So that while the water communication between 
Bolton and Liverpool, mixed, circuitous and hazardous, is 56 miles in 
length, that, by land, is 27 miles, of which, all, but 2£ miles, consists ot a 
highly improved railway;* and while the cost of transportation for a ton of 
goods, by water, from Bolton to Liverpool, does not fall short of 15s. ster¬ 
ling, that, by land, cannot exceed ! Os. sterling. 

“The same considerations apply with nearly equal force to the short 
branch to Bury, which is, a few miles, east from Bolton. 

“ It is not difficult, then, to account for the willingness of the proprietors 
of this canal to surrender it, fora railway, or any other purpose, to any one, 
who will take it of their hands, and pay them any thing for it. 

“If, indeed, the carriage to Liverpool, by water, from Bolton, by Man¬ 
chester, and thence , by the Duke of Bridgewater's, now the Marquis of 
Stafford’s canal, and the river Mersey, which spreads out to great breadth, 
below Runcorn gap, a distance, in all, of 56 miles, could be reduced from N 
15s. sterling, or 3.60 cents, to 3 cents a ton, per mile, the entire cost of 
transportation of heavy commodities, on the canals of New York, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and Ohio, then, indeed, the case would be not quite so hopeless for 
the Bolton canal. 

“ Ten shillings sterling, per ton, the price now charged, on the railroad, 
for transporting a bale of cotton from Liverpool to Manchester, a distance of 
29| miles, measured from the wharf of Liverpool to the entrance of Man¬ 
chester, if this sterling money be turned into American currency, with a 
suitable allowance for the difference of exchange, and the relative value of 
the metallic mediums of the two countries, is not less than g2 40 cents, or 
eight cents a ton per mile, for transportation; a charge not too great, con¬ 
sidering the cost of the road, which is, now, known to have been, all charges 
included, about 140,000 dollars a mile. 

“ The American charges for canal transportation, at 2 cents per ton per 
mile for toll, and one for freight, which last is quite high enough, would 
reduce the cost of carriage on the line of 45 miles, between Manchester 
and Liverpool, to 1.35 cents the ton, or 1.05 cents less than the present 
charge on the railroad of 30 miles, between the same places; and adding 11 
miles, or 33 cents, for the distance, from Manchester, to Bolton, still, the 
advantage, excluding any allowance for the danger and delays, of 16 miles' 
of open rfver navigation, of the water, over the land transportation, be- 
iween Bolton and Liverpool, would be 72 cents on the ton; or quite enough 
to keep the carriage in its old track. 

* Leigh is now connected with the Liverpool and Manchester railroad, by a railway. 


277 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ As to the river Mersey; from Runcorn, it is open to every one. What 
the Marquis of Stafford may charge, on what was once the Duke of Bridge¬ 
water’s canal, subject to the restraints of the charter, under which he holds 
his title, it is for himself to decide. But if the exclusive advocates of rail¬ 
roads, either in this country or in England, find any cause for exultation in 
the preceding facts, let them rejoice! If they question the facts, let them 
adduce their conflicting evidence, and they shall again hear from 

TRUTH. 


A fair experiment of the relative utility of railroads and canals, would 
depend on so many circumstances, as regards their relative plans, location, 
cost, and species of traffic, that many years would be consumed in bringing 
it to a satisfactory conclusion. 

In the first stages of such an experiment, a canal, liable to frequent in¬ 
terruptions from the unsettled state of its banks, would labor under great 
comparative disadvantages; while the railroad would possess the recom¬ 
mendation of being new, and, therefore, in its most perfect condition. 
Their relative profits would depend, of course, on the proportion of their 
nett income, to the cost of their construction, and the former subject of this 
comparison would, itself, depend on the expense of those very repairs, which 
would be diminishing, on the canal, as its bank acquired stability from 
time, and increasing upon the railroad, as use impaired its strength, by 
friction, frequent changes of temperature, and unforeseen accidents. 

As to the relative speed of transportation on both, the decision of that 
question must await the equal use of both the canal and railroad, for a con* 
siderable period, and under various circumstances, by the same amount of 
tonnage. It is difficult even to conceive how a railroad, with but two 
tracks, and having both occupied at the same time, by numerous and 
heavy laden cars, moving in oposite directions, can admit of the velocity, 
which it is believed, a boat may attain, on a canal, without the slightest in¬ 
terference with any other vessels moving on the same surface, in opposite 
directions, and with different velocities. 

Of the possible application of steam, to canals, not indeed, to such canals 
as those which so often occur in England, but to the canal of the Forth and 
Clyde, in Scotland, which has near the same breath with the Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal, a doubt can no longer be entertained, notwithstanding the nu¬ 
merous and very confident authorities cited to disprove it, by the Balti¬ 
more and Ohio Railroad Company; all of which, indeed, derive their whole 
force, as they doubtless do their existence, from their application to the 
comparatively narrow and shallow canals of England. 

A reference to the able essay of the practical civil engineer superintend¬ 
ing the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company’s works in Pennsylvania, whc, 
having both a railway and a canal under his charge, with abundant experi¬ 
ence, and no motive whatever to deceive himselt or others, will shed more 
real light, on this inquiry, than all the British authorities united; and his 
suggestions of various modes of diminishing the expense, and of accelerating 
»the speed of transportation on canals, while it evinces his mastery of his 
profession, may inspire a doubt, at least, whether mechanical genius may 
not hereafter find, as full exercise for its invention, in improving the naviga¬ 
tion of canals, as in propelling railroad cars. 






278 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

When, therefore, the appeal to public opinion will be so far settled, as to 
enable the Federal Government to decide a question, which now perplexes 
the civil engineer, cannot, probably, be determined. 

One thing which is certain, appears not to have been generally known, 
that the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company depend on the prosecution of 
their work, above “the Point of Rocks, ” for a supply of water to five and 
twenty miles of their canal, now nearly completed, below that point, and, 
therefore, that the result of the experiment which has been recommended , 
could not be patiently awaited, by that company, without most serious lost* 
to their stockholders, and to the public. 

If, as two of the most eminent civil engineers have said, after careful in¬ 
quiry, the internal intercourse of England be not sufficiently active to war¬ 
rant the use of stationary steam engines , on such a railroad, as that be¬ 
tween Manchester and Liverpool, the cost of which, it is ascertained, ex¬ 
ceeds $130,000 a mile, it must be manifest that the United States cannot, 
in the present state of their population and commerce, avail themselves of 
the cheapest propelling power applicable to railroads. 

Whether America be ripe for the profitable employment of locomotive 
engines between her chief cities, or between those cities and the country 
which sustains them, is a question yet to be tried and determined, by ex¬ 
perience. If mere animal force be, at present, the most economical moving 
power on railroads and canals, then, their relative value is admitted to be 
unequivocally settled in favor of the latter. 

Railroads are universally acknowledged to be greatly superior to all other 
roads; and the time may and probably will arrive, in the United States, 
when constructed with many tracks, for carriages moving at the same time, 
with different velocities, in the same, ns well as in opposite directions; and 
propelled by stationary engines, having sufficient occupation to sustain their 
constant and therefore profitable use, railroads will prove formidable, if 
not successful rivals of canals. In the interim, it cannot be wise, or pru¬ 
dent, to arrest the improvement of a country, by institutions suited to its 
actual condition, because it is expected that, at some future and distant pe¬ 
riod, these may be superceded, by inventions of more expensive structure 
and costly use. 

In the progress of navigation, the floating raft, the bark canoe, the open 
boat, and the decked vessel, varying in size, from the light sloop which 
scuds along the coast, to the magnificent Indiaman, or the awful battle ship 
which braves the ocean and the storm, have all their appropriate places. 

Indulging similar views of the future march of invention, should it so 
happen in process of time, as there is much latitude for hope, if not suffi¬ 
cient ground for confident prediction, that, by the introduction of steam 
power on canals, or the use of a part of their surplus water to propel their 
boats, on the principle of the action of the stationary engine on the railway, 
the expense extending canal navigation may be greatly reduced, and its ve¬ 
locity be proportionably accelerated, the spirit of liberal and enlightened 
competition which railroads have recently awakened both in Europe and 
America, will yield to commercial and social intercourse, to the union of 
States and the happiness of their people, as substantial benefits, as if the most 
flattering promises of their exclusive advocates had been fully realized. 

The following impressive caution against rash speculations in railroads, 
is given in a publication, entitled “an account of the Liverpool and Man¬ 
chester railway, by H. Booth, esq., treasurer to the company.” 


279 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

i( The Liverpool and Manchester railway is a magnificent work; but it 
will be useful to keep in mind that such works cannot be executed except 
at an expense of no ordinary magnitude. This railway will cost above 
4?S00,000, including the charge for stations and depots at each end, and ma¬ 
chinery, wagons, &c., for a carrying department. The immense traffic be¬ 
tween Liverpool and Manchester amply justifies this outlay. But, with re¬ 
ference to any similar scheme in extension of the railroad system, it is de¬ 
sirable the projectors should impartially calculate the cost of the work, as 
well as the income it may be expected to produce; and, especially, that they 
should make an ample allowance beyond the first estimate of the expendi¬ 
ture, before they embark in the undertaking.” 

In an address to the members of both Houses of Parliament, from which 
the above is transcribed, the following very pertinent remarks appear: 

“ Whatever hope and encouragement for the future may arise out of the 
trial of the Liverpool railway, now going on, especially as respects the consis¬ 
tency of speed with safety, it cannot be pretended that sufficient proof has 
yet been given of the main point, required to establish the superiority of 
railways over canals, viz.—their greater economy. Of this, the reduc¬ 
tion in the tonnage of raw cotton, in which the railway has been followed 
by the water carriers, is no proof; because the rate now charged, within one 
shilling per ton, was fixed by the railway act, at a time when the cost of 
its conveyance could only have been approximated by an estimate. Unless 
however, the cardinal point of greater economy can be clearly made out, the 
advantages of the railway will be limited, (as is still the opinion of many of the 
best judges) to those cases, in which an extra-price can be afforded, for the 
rapid conveyance of passengers, and of those lighter articles of merchandize 
which are required to supply immediate demands. The proof which is requir¬ 
ed must consist, not in estimates or calculations; for, of the fallaciousness 
of these we have already had sufficient experience in the case of the Liver¬ 
pool railway, the cost of which (upwards of 4230,000 per mile) is more 
than double the estimate;—but in bona fide evidence, to he derived, at a fit 
season, from a fair winding up of the accounts of the concern;—from a 
balance sheet proving that, after paying interest on the sunk capital, and 
defraying the current expenses, there will he a surplus of actual profit, how¬ 
ever moderate, to be divided among the proprietors. Such an investiga¬ 
tion, it is obvious, cannot be entered upon at present, with any trustworthy 
result. It will require that the railway should he completely finished;—that 
the sufficiency of the work should he ascertained by longer experience;— 
that the solidity of the foundation, the durability of the road and embank¬ 
ments, should be fairly tried;—that the wear and tear of the rails, carriages, 
and machinery, should he determined, both under the present system of 
exclusive use by the company of proprietors, and when thrown open, as 
carriers in general. These, and a variety of other data, hitherto unknown, 
must he acquired by actual experience, before it can be pronounced, with 
just confidence, that railways can carry at a cheaper rate than canals. They 
are points upon which directors and engineers can at present offer nothing 
but random conjectures, quite unworthy of being made the ground of under¬ 
takings, which will absorb many millions of the capital of the nation.” 


280 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

A reference to the last anuual report of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail¬ 
road Company , in order to ascertain the cost of transportation or. that 
road, as well as of its construction. 

The last report, of the Pennsylvania Canal Commissioners quotes from the 
late annual report of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company the esti¬ 
mated cost of their road, and states it to be 27,228 dollars per mile. They 
notice, that, of the 71 miles of this road, so estimated- no less than two-thirds 
are laid with wooden sills, or rails, and that the branch to Frederick, of 3 A 
miles, is of one track only; but they do not notice, that the viaduct of this 
road across the river Monocacy, over which the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal 
Company are constructing an aqueduct of white granite, is of wood resting 
on stone piers, and estimated at a cost, less by $ 1000 per mile, on the entire 
railway, than the cost of this stone aqueductf nor do they notice that no 
charge whatever is made, in the above estimate, for the fixtures and 
machinery of the inclined planes at Parr’s ridge, which are, however, as ne¬ 
cessary a part of the road, as a lock is of a canal. 

The Pennsylvania Commissioners, also, remark, that this company admit 
“ that it required (>§ months to lay down 6 miles of stone track,” and 
“ that the cost of laying with stone has been underrated in every instance,” 
but they do not remark, that the reason given by the Railroad Company, in 
their last annual report, for not using stone on two-thirds of their road, or 
on their Monocacy viaduct, is, that the adjacent country could not supply 
it; and, if this be true, to replace, hereafter, the wooden, by stone rails, must 
be a work of much enhanced cost. 

Making due allowance for all these considerations, it cannot be deemed 
unreasonable to estimate the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio rail¬ 
road, when made of durable materials, and with two tracks, at a cost not less, 
at any rate, than 30,000 dollars a mile. 

It would have been very gratifying to public curiosity, if the annual report 
of this company, made early in October last, had either stated the amount 
of the dividend of profit on the stock of the company, for the preceding 
3 'ear, which was done by the antecedent annual report, and then promised 
for every succeeding year; or that this report, which does state the gross 
amount received for transportation, had also stated the nett revenue of the 
company, from the 13 miles of the railroad, the only part which has been 
in common use, and the part, on which, the former dividend was declared. 

This information would have cast some light on, by far the most im¬ 
portant question remaining to be solved, at least in the United States, as to 
tfie annual expenses attending the transportation and repairs of railways, 
compared with canals. Astq their relative prime cost , it is now to be pre¬ 
sumed, that the current error which has hitherto prevailed on this subject, 
has been corrected by actual experience, the best test of truth in every 
branch of practical philosophy. Whatever may be the scientific calculations 
in Europe, the actual, as well as estimated cost, per mile, of the Maryland 
and Pennsylvania railroads, designed to consist of two tracks only, exceeds 
the average cost of their canals. 

With regard to the only railroads in America, in relation to which we 
have any disclosure of the annual cost of the repairs, and expenses of trans¬ 
portation, other than tolls, it must be admitted, on the concurrent authori¬ 
ties, already cited in this appendix, from New York and Pennsylvania, that 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


281 


*hey greatly exceed the usual cost of repairs, and the long and well established 
rate of carriage on canals of ordinary dimensions. 

In relation to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, it is understood that every 
thing, respecting the original purchase and repairs of the cars, or vehicles for 
transportation, is under the care of a special committee of the directors 
whose expenditure on these subjects, for the preceding year, does notap- 
pear in their late annual report Indeed, neither the gross revenue, nor the 
expences of transportation, between October, 1830, and January, 1831 ap¬ 
pears in that report. * v 

In a table of the aggregate revenue, from tonnage and passengers, from 
January, to September, (both months included,) of 1831, the gross amount 
stated to have been received is g.27,249 74 cents, for passengers, and $4,155 
50 cents, for tonnage; making a total sum of $31,405 24 cents. 

In another table, under the head of <i expenses of transportation,” from 
which, might be inferred, but for the preceding report of the Superintendent, 
that the total expenses were meant, we have an analysis, which excludes 
the original cost of the carriages, and even the interest on that cost, as well as 
any estimate or charge for their repairs as well as those of the road itself. The 
recapitulation of those expenses furnishes, 

For the undefined item of “ Moving power” - - $5,526 55 

Drivers and engine men, - 1,763 45 

Agents and conductors, - 1,901 32 

Depot expenses, ' - - 1,066 39 

Oil, - - - 254 98 

Contingencies, - - 4 S 2 18 

Making the total expenses of the preceding nine months, 810,994 87.” 


On the 19th page of the report, “ the machinery and moving power” 
are treated of under one head; but, if the phrase “ moving power” applies 
! to the animal labor, and also to the locomotive steam engines employed to 
propel the carriages, it is presumed that the cost of the carriages, and of their 
repairs, is not included in the above list of expenses; and so we are, accord¬ 
ingly, told by the Superintendent. 

In the estimate accompanying this report, of the anticipated expenditures 
of the company, during the ensuing twelve months, u the construction of 
I the necessary cars and locomotive engines is computed at $150,000.” 

! (See page 102 of the report.) Some expenses of a similar character must 
have occurred, in the nine months of thepast year ; but, after a diligent ex- 
i amination, it does not appear that any part of them have been charged upon the 
j current receipts for transportation, or on the revenue of the year. 

In like manner, the Superintendent of construction, on this road, in his re¬ 
port to the principal engineer, of the 30th of September, 1831, apprises him, 
that the “ railway in the city and first division of the road has undergone 
, a thorough examination, and such repairs, as appeared necessary, have been 
made:” and we learn from the 12th page of the report, that this first di¬ 
vision extends to Ellicott’s mills, or all the road in use. But there, no¬ 
where, appears any statement of the cost of the repairs of this division, nor 
does the gross revenue, appear any where to be charged with them, or with 
any part of them. Yet, it is very obvious, that the actual cost of carriage 
on a railway, cannot be ascertained, without a due reference to those items of 
unavoidable expenditure. 

36 






£82 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Although, therefore, the annual report of this company explicitly states 
that, “ upon reference to the report of the Superintendent of transporta - 
lion, hereto annexed, it will be seen, that 81,905 passengers have passed 
on this division, since the first of January last, and that, within the same 
period, 5931 tons have been transported upon it, yielding an income ot 
$3f,405 24 cents, and involving an expenditure of $10,994 S7 cents,” it 
is very evident, that this is not the only expenditure involved, in this trans¬ 
portation; and that, so far, the statement, of the report is calculated to mis 
lead the public judgment, as to the proportion, between the gross receipts, 
and the nett profit on the transportation of this railroad. 

Indeed, the preceding statement of the President and Directors, in their 
annual report, is the more extraordinary, since the Superintendent of trans¬ 
portation, whose annual report to the President, is quoted by them, most 
expressly says, in the body of his report, that he has “ exhibited a return oi 
the actual expenditures by the company, under the head of ‘expenses oj 
transportation} amounting to $10,994 S7 cents; but these , as will be per¬ 
ceived,” he candidly adds, “ do not include any charges for the construc¬ 
tion , the repairs , or the wear and tear of wagons and cars; and he pro¬ 
perly adds, as the reason, “ that branch of the service of the company being 
under the immediate care and supermtendencc of a committee of the 
board.” A fact, to which, this istheonly allusion, in their annual report. 

In the “ general remarks” of the engineer in chief of this company, on 
the 100th page of this report, he states, as a result of those “ improvements 
©n Winan’s car,” w’hich have so greatly reduced the friction of railroad 
carriages, that “ the working effort of a horse, on a level, would draw IS 
tons, 2£ miles per hour.” 

Now, if these improvements have been introduced on this road, which 
cannot be doubted, we have against the authority of the engineer in chief, 
that of the Superintendent oj transportation, who, on the 129th page of 
this very same report, says, “ that for some months past, a series of experi¬ 
ments have been made, with the view of ascertaining, practically, th et force 
of traction, at a slow draft., horses can exert, consistently with the preser¬ 
vation of their vigor and health. It has been found that, graduated, as 
this road is,” (its graduation and masonry alone, the same report states to 
have cost $46,354 56 cents, per mile,) “and each horse moving 3 miles 
per hour, he can traverse the 13 miles westwardly with 7 tons, and return¬ 
ing he can transport 10:} tons.” In going, let it be remarked, the horso 
reaches a higher plane, in returning, he descends to a lower. 

The Superintendent’s report corresponds with the British authorities on 
the same subject; but, if the maximum power of a single horse, on a level 
railroad, when drawing Winan’s improved car, be computed, as it has been, 
by the engineer in chief of this company, and it is very probable that he 
does not underrate it, since he makes it near tvvice the British estimate, 
still, the Chesapeake and Ohio canal has nothing to apprehend, from the ex¬ 
ertion of animal power, on this rival raihvay; a single horse having drawn, 
at his usual walk of 2£ or 3 miles an hour, with apparent facility, more than 
fifty tons, on this canal, for many hours together. 

By turning to the analysis made by Josiah W hite, the able director and 
superintendent of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, it will be seen 
that the annual repairs of carriages on the Mauch Chunk railroad actually 
amounted “to two thirds of a cent a ton per mile;” while the same autho¬ 
rity apprises the public, that the total cost of transportation, on the Eric 


288 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

i,anal, “ lor boats of 40 tons burthen,” is t( one cent per mile, full loads 
one way and reluming empty.” “ Calculating on the same data, on a boat 
of 67 tons, (33 tons less than the burthen of those of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal,) such as will be adapted to the Delaware canal,” he makes the cost of 
transportation “ seven-tenths of a cent, per ton, a mile.” The mere ex¬ 
pense of the repairs of carriages omitted, in the last annual report of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, from among the items of the cost 
of transportation on their road, will, therefore, be found to exceed the en¬ 
tire cost of transportation on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 

There remains, in fact, but one element of a just comparison between 
those works, to be ascertained by experience, to determine the relative 
economy of their use; that is, the sum required for their respective annual 
repairs, or to maintain against natural decay, and injury from use, the 
value of the fixed capital vested in them, respectively; that capital being, in 
fact, proved to be, very nearly, the satne in amount. Railroads, as often, ex¬ 
ceeding canals in their original cost, as they fall short; and the price of both 
being equally dependent on their location, and dimensions, and the peculiar 
character of the ground over which they respectively pass. 


In further illustration of the relative cost of railroads and canals , the 
following extracts arc made from the memorial prefixed to the appen¬ 
dix of Doc. IS, relative to the plait and probable cost of the Chesa¬ 
peake and Ohio canal. 

The condition of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, and of the funds of the % 
.company, at the period of the general meeting of the stockholders in June 
last, is disclosed in the accompanying annual report of the President and 
Directors, to the stockholders, at their last annual meeting; in the annexed 
j tables exhibiting the cost of its Various works, and the report of the manner 
of their execution, made by Colonels Abert and Kearney* of the corps of 
United States’Engineers, to the Secretary of War* pursuant to an order of 
that department* 

From these documents, it will appear that the construction of the Canal has 
been completed as far west, as no legal obstacle opposed its progress; that, 
for forty eight miles above Washington, its various works had been, with 
scarcely an exception, faithfully executed; and that, between its first and 
second feeders, where the greatest physicial obstructions were to be overcome, 

1 its navigation has been long in active use. 

From these facts, it may be inferred that the construction of the canal, but 
! for the injunction of the Chancellor of Maryland, might, in the same time, 

; have been carried, as far up the left bank of the Potomac, as the funds of the 
company would warrant; as it may, from the actual cost of the part which 
has been completed, that the expense of the whole eastern section, making 
but a reasonable allowance for the great enlargement of its dimensions, will 
not much exceed the estimate of Messrs. Geddes and Roberts, nor that of 
prior date, by the Central Committee of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal 
Convention, from the proceedings of which, the charter of the present com- 1 
pany originated. 

Those estimates were applied, respectively, to three different danals, or to 
three several dimensions of a canal, passing, as nearly as practicable, over the 
i same ground. The estimate for the first of these, having the same plan 
and dimension with the State canals of New York, Pennsylvania, and 





284 


£ Doc. No. 101. 3 

Ohio, viz. being forty feet at the surface, and four feet deep, and extending, 
from Georgetown to Cumberland, a distance of 1803 miles, amounted to 
the sum of $4,008,065 28, or $21,461 87 per mile; for one extending the 
sapie distance, and along the same shore of the Potomac, with a breadth of 
48 feet at the surface, and a depth of 5, they computed at $4,3§0,991 68, 
or $23,191 38 per mile; and for a third, of the same depth with the second, 
but having, for 126 of the 1863 miles, a breadth at the surface of 60 feet, 
and at bottom of 42, they computed at $4,479,346 73 or at $23,985 79 per 
mile.* 

The difference between these estimates, when compared with the relative 
resistance to be encountered by the same boat, in passing along these several 
canals, induced not only a preference of the largest of the preceding plans, 
but an enlargement of that;, to a depth of six feet. Accordingly, the canal 
placed under contract, and now nearly completed, is no where less than six 
feet deep; and, except for about three-fourths of a mile, made up of short 
spaces, here and there, at which, on account of peculiar difficulties, it is re¬ 
duced in breadth to about fifty feet, its least width at the surface is sixty feet, 
and at bottom forty-two feet; affording a cross section of 306 feet. It may 
be proper,j;here to remark, that the cross section of the New York canals is 136 
feet only, and that of the canal recommended by the United States’ engineers, 
no where exceeds, and often falls short of 202^ feet. 

The locks of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal are, consequently, one foot 
deeper, and being in. their chamber 100 feet by 15, they are ten feet longer 
than those recommended by Messrs. Geddes and Roberts. They exceed in 
depth, to the same extent, those proposed by the United States’Board of 
Internal Improvement: and though less in length by 4 feet, they exceed the 
latter by 1 foot in breadth, being calculated for boats ninety feet long and 
fourteen feet eight inches wide, drawing four feet water, capable of carrying, 
each, one hundred tons, and of being propelled by the labor of two, or at 
most of three horses assisted by two men and a boy. 

The breadth of this canal being about 44 four and a half t imes the breadth of the 
boat, and its cross section very nearly six times that of the boat, the latter 
will move with a moderate velocity, as on an indefinite expanse of water.’ 7 
But, the company extend their views beyond this result. Turning to 
practical advantage the rock which abounds every where along the line of the 
canal, and which has so greatly enhanced its first cost, they purpose, by wall¬ 
ing its inner slopes, not only to obviate the necessity of future repairs, but, 
also, to fit this line of communication between the east and the west, for the 
use of steam, as its propelling power. 

On the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, the breadth of which was design¬ 
ed to be sixty, and its depth eight feet, a velocity of seven miles an hour has 
been already attained by animal labor, and has superseded a resort to land 
transportation, for persons as well as property, across the peninsula between 
the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia. 

Economy, rather than velocity, being the great desideratum in the transpor¬ 
tation to market of the very heavy and bulky products of the American forests, 
mines, and agriculture, the purpose of this canal would have been accomplish¬ 
ed without looking to this powerful agent. By the efficacy of steam, how¬ 
ever, combined with the enlarged volume of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, 
passage boats, it is believed, may be expedited on its surface with a rapidity 
surpassed, at present, only on the best improved mail roads. In this anti- 

°f hese estimates there was doubtless, a great cnor committed} if’ the first 
be assumed to be correct. Experience has shown that neither was so, 


285 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

cipation, your memorialists make no allowance far those discoveries which 
are daily surprising the world with new applications of art and science to 
human use and comfort. They do, however, confidently rely on the very re¬ 
cent experiments on the Ardrossan, as well as upon the Monldand, the Union,, 
and the Forth and Clyde canals of Scotland, referred to in the annual report ap¬ 
pended to this memorial, which have demonstrated the fallacy of all former 
philosophical calculations, of the resistance encountered by boats moving on 
a canal with different velocities. 

Without greatly increasing the propelling power of the passage boat, or 
materially endangering the abrasion .of the banks of a canal, the speed of such 
boat may, it has now been demonstrated, be accelerated, from six to nine, 
ten, or even twelve miles an hour. The previously established ratio of the 
resistance to the velocity of the boat applying, it is now discovered, to slow 
and not to quick motion. 

Should the views of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, meet the 
approbation of the several parties to their charter, and the western section of 
the canal be immediately begun, and conducted up the Monongahela and 
Yougheogany rivers, the portion of the canal between Pittsburg and Con- 
nelsville may be first executed, being a distance of less than sixty miles. 
A canal extending 5S$ miles above Pittsburg, having a depth of six feet 
water, with a breadth of sixty feet at its surface, and forty-two feet* at bot¬ 
tom, overcoming an ascent of 146 feet 4 inches, by nineteen locks, has been 
computed, by two practical civil engineers, Messrs. Roberts and Cruger, of 
New York, to cost $1,718,633. 

This estimate, includes no allowance for land rights or fencing; but it 
computes the entire lockage above mentioned at $1,000 the foot lift, the slope 
walls at more than one dollar the perch, and these two items-, taken together, 
at more than a fourth of the entire sum above mentioned; while the heavier 
expenses o iexcavation and embankment, constituting, together, more than 
a moiety of the whole cost of the canal, are computed at more than the actual 
cost of the like items upon the part of the eastern section of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio canal already completed. 

The average cost of more than three and a half millions of yards of embank¬ 
ment, exceeds eighteen cents, and of two millions of yards of excavation, 
twelve cents the cubic yard. On the western section of the great State canal 
of Pennsylvania, the reports of her canal commissioners show*, that every de¬ 
scription of work was done on cheaper terms, than on the eastern section. The 
preceding sum may, therefore, be considered as the maximum cost of so much 
of the western section of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. With the liberal 
patronage of the United States, and such further aid as the State of Pennsyl¬ 
vania and individual enterprize within that commonwealth and elsewhere 
may afford, this sum will be, it is hoped, readily obtained. 

Having completed one half of the portion of the canal between the west¬ 
ern basis of the summit level and Pittsburg, there will remain but 27 miles of 
the other moiety of this distance to be provided for, in order to reach the 
mouth of Casselman’s river, a point on the line of the canal in the vicinity oi 
the Cumberland road. By the route of that road, this point is about 44 miles 
from Cumberland, the western termination of the eastern section of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio canal; by the route surveyed for the canal, about 67 
miles; thirty-one of wMch lie between the mouth of Casselman’s river and 
the western basin of the summit level. 

It is apparent, therefore, that there will be several stages of this work 
where a pause m#y be made in its prosecution, without the loss of all benefit 


286 


Doc. Mo. 101. J 

from the portion of it which will have been completed. To this view, may 
he superadded, the highly important consideration, that the part which may, 
at any time, have been accomplished, will afford increased facilities for the 
more speedy and economical construction of the residue, and, in the interim, 
will contribute, by its profitable use, to the advancement of the public wealth 
and the general revenue of the company. 

The memorialists having explained the motives which prompted the 
adoption of a plan of such enlarged dimensions for the eastern section of the 
canal, in order to obviate objections to the immediate commencement 
of the western section, return to the, estimate of the probable cost of 
the former. With the view of shewing the competency of the funds, on 
which a reliance has been hitherto had for the completion of this section of 
the canal, they proceed to demonstrate, or render probable at least, the truth 
of their statement, as to the proportion which the cost of the part of this sec¬ 
tion now under contract, being that to the east of the “ Point of Rocks,” 
may be expected to bear to the greater portion extending to the west of that 
point, and east of Cumberland, along which their progress has been hitherto 
obstructed. For this purpose, they add to the statements of the last annual 
report, the following considerations: 

Not only have the provisions hitherto consumed on the canal been trans-*- 
ported a considerable distance, but nearly all the hydraulic lime for its costly 
aqueducts and its numerous locks and culverts, has been obtained from the * 
New York canals, or from the Potomac quarries near Shepherdstown, twen¬ 
ty-five miles west of the “ Point of Rocks,” along a navigation so obstructed 
as sometimes to double its prime cost at the kilns on the river shore. Much 
of the stone for this masonry has been alike transported, and no small part of 
it by land, for great distances, and at great expense. Two dams, one of them 
exceeding half a mile in length, have been required across the widest part of 
the Potomac, to force the water of that river into the necessary feeders; and 
the expense of their construction, as well as of two considerable aqueducts, 
and of 28, of the 72 locks, required on the eastern section, are comprehended 
in the estimated or actual cost of the forty-eight miles of canal next below the 
“ Point of Rocks.” 

Two other causes have powerfully contributed to swell the expense of the 
work already executed. The usual ill health, for a certain season of every 
year, of the valley of the Potomac, below the Kitoctin mountain; and the 
competition for labor on the canal, with two considerable works, the Balti¬ 
more and Ohio railroad and the Susquehanna and Juniata canal, of Pennsyl¬ 
vania; the former approaching very near, and the other not one hundred ^ 
miles distant from the line of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. Both causes 
have conspired for two years past to raise the wages of ordinary labor very 
far beyond the price anticipated when the estimates of the Washington con¬ 
vention were made. One of these causes will, in a great measure, cease, after 
the canal shall have ascended the Potomac to the healthy country above the 
“ Point of Rocks;” and the final completion of the great State canal of Penn¬ 
sylvania, will shortly limit the operations of the other. 

Without taking into account the probable reduction of the prices of mate¬ 
rials and subsistence, as well as of the wages of labor in the more fruitful 
country above the Kitoctin mountain, your memorialists are sustained, as well 
by experience, as by a comparison of the relative cftfficulties that were to be 
encountered by the canal, below and above the Blue Ridge, in computing the 
cost of the first sixty miles, between Georgetown and 'Harper’s Ferry, at 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 287 

much more than a third of the entire expense of the eastern section of 1S6£ 
miles. 

For the cost of the twelve miles of this distance, immediately below Har¬ 
per’s Ferry, not already placed under contract, they rely on the frequently 
repeated estimates of practical engineers, corrected by a reference to the price 
of that part of the remaining 4S miles actually placed under contract, and at 
this time, either completed, or very nearly so. No part of these twelve miles 
nor of the 126 miles above them, presents obstacles, as difficult to surmount, 
as those which have been successfully encountered on the part of the eastern 
section already finished. The twelve miles next above the Kitoctin moun¬ 
tain, and below* Harper’s Ferry, comprehend but a single dam across the Po¬ 
tomac, at a place where the river is much narrower than either at Sepeca or 
the Little Falls; and there are, in this space, but three lift locks to be added to 
the 28 below T the “ Point of Rocks.” 

Assuming, therefore, the present enlarged plan of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal to be the permanent basis cff the dimensions of the entire eastern section, 
and computing the total cost of the section at near thrice the actual cost of the 
60 miles next above Georgetown, and about five millions of dollars would be 
found to be the sum required to reach the town of Cumberland. It will prob¬ 
ably reach five and a half millions. From this estimate, the work within 
and immediately above Georgetown! is excluded, under a conviction that 
the mole and basin, at the mouth of Rock creek, will repay all the expenses in- 
. curred there, except on the locks. As these wrnuld have been required to de¬ 
scend to the tide, had the canal stopped above this town, they are comprehend¬ 
ed in the preceding estimate. 

For the mountain, or middle section, over which the Chesapeake and 
Ohio Canal Company are authorized to construct, either inclined planes and 
railways, or a continued canal, the memorialists have, however, never 
ceased to indulge the confident hope of assistance from that Government, 
which, created for the purposes of union and commerce, cannot be insensi¬ 
ble to the claims of both these great interests upon the vigorous exercises of 
its powerful energies to remove every impediment to the easy intercourse 
of the Atlantic and western States through the centre of their common ter¬ 
ritory, and the seat of their common Government. 

A plan for effecting this desirable object, has already received the appro¬ 
bation of the memorialists, and was sustained in an application to the Pre¬ 
sident of the United States, on a recent occasion, by a large proportion of the 
House of Representatives. The doubts expressed by the Chief Magistrate of 
his powder to employ the army on works of internal improvement, if still exist¬ 
ing, it would, it is presumed, be in the pow T er of Congress to remove in con¬ 
formity with the past usage not only of other Governments, but with that of 
I the United States, and the earnest recommendation of the Department of War 
in the second year of Mr. Monroe’s administration. Should the direction be 
given to the labor of a part of the public force which that recommendation en¬ 
forced, there will remain to be provided only the portion of the western 
section of the canal lying between the Alleghany mountain and Pittsburg; 
and, for this portion, an appeal is most respectfully addressed tothe enlight¬ 
ened patriotism of the representatives of the States and people of America. 

Should the western section of the canal be retarded in its progress from 
Pittsburg towards Cumberland, by a suspension of it, for any considerable 
period, at any one of the points suggested above; should it, for example, 1 *be 
prosecuted no farther than the mouth of Casselman’s river, it will, even 





2SS 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


there, have arrived within a few miles of the national road, which already, 
connects the Youghogany, at Smithfield, with the Potomac, at Cumberland. 
Through the application of the various mineral treasures, apart from the 
productions of the agriculture, and of the forests of the country between Smith- 
field and Pittsburg, a part of the resources for the completion of this section, 
would be speedily developed by the canal itself. It is, therefore, believed 
that, if a subscription be authorized, by Congress, for this purpose, to the ex¬ 
tent of a single million, it will-elicit a capital sufficient to defray the cost of all 
this central communication, except its summit level , and the descending 
planes or locks which are designed to connect it with the lines of continuous 
canal, stretching to the east and west, from the base of the Alleghany moun¬ 
tain. « 

To open, through this great barrier, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Chesa¬ 
peake bay, an easy avenue of trade and intercourse to millions born and un¬ 
born, is, of itself, a work of such magnitude, as to require that it be commenc¬ 
ed and prosecuted on a plan of suitable dimensions and with adequate re¬ 
sources for its speedy completion. It is foi* the Federal Government to 
sanction the one, since it is probable that it is, alone,. competent to provide 
the other. 

The memorialists would here close the appeal, which they have presum¬ 
ed to make, to the wisdom of Congress, in behalf of the western section of 
the canal, if they were not imperiously required, by a report of a former com¬ 
mittee of the House of Representatives, to consider and to remove an objec¬ 
tion to their whole enterprise. 

To the memorials of the numerous citizens of Pennsylvania, who prayed 
for the aid of the General Government towards the construction of the 
western section oi the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, the Committee on Inter¬ 
nal Improvements, to whom these memorials were referred at the first ses¬ 
sion of the last Congress, replied, “that they duly appreciate the great and v 1 
national importance of a communication between the western waters and the 
navigable waters of the Chesapeake bay, as is manifested in their report of 
the 19th of February, 1S30, on the memorial of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad Company.” 

v The committee further stated, that, actuated by the same “desire of af¬ 
fording to the Government a satisfactory experiment upon which it can de¬ 
cide, whether a preference ought to be given to a canal or railroad, as the 
mode of conveyance over the mountains, they deem it inexpedient, at pre¬ 
sent, to make the appropriations, as the western communication, in the 
opinion of the committee, should correspond with the one leading over the 
mountains.” 

Such, the memorialists beg leave to remark, had not been the course of 
Pennsylvania, who is proceeding to connect, by a railroad o£ about 40 
miles extent, across the Alleghany, her Conemaugh and Juniala canals; nor 
that of the Hudson and Delaware Canal Company, who combine a railway 
of 16 miles, overcoming an elevation and descent of 1768 feet, with a canal, 
exceeding in length one hundred miles, in order to reach the Lachawannock 
coal mines, from the North river; nor of the “LehighCoal and Navigation 
Company,” who, for-a similar purpose, have connected a canal and still-water 
navigation of 46 miles on the Lehigh, with a railroad of 9 miles, between 
Ea^on, on the Delaware, and Mauch Chunk. This last mentioned work 
overcomes, by its railway, a descent of more than 700 feet, and has, in a 
distance of 46 miles of mixed navigation, 47 lift locks, 6 guard locks, and 


[ Doc. No. 101* ] 289 

dams. The use, moreover, of its railway, long preceded, in point of 
time, the commencement of its canal. 

The memorialists aver, that, at no period whatever, either before or since 
the prosecution of the great enterprise in which they are engaged, have they 
been unmindful of the progress of the science of internal improvement either 
in Europe or America. 

While the proceedings of the founders of the rival enterprise of Baltimore 
disclosed the grounds of their preference of a communication with the west, 
by “ a direct railroad, 99 rather than by the course of the Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal, along the winding valley of the Potomac, the friends of the 
latter had no motive to deceive themselves or others. If such a communi¬ 
cation were likely to supersede the use of the canal, while the former 
kept its avowed direction, and could not possibly interfere with the latter, 
the undersigned had not the power to arrest its progress, had they ever mani¬ 
fested or felt the disposition. They accordingly consulted all the informa¬ 
tion which the essays of scientific writers, or the actual experience of Eu¬ 
rope or America could supply, in relation to the relative advantages of these 
different modes of transportation. They not only availed themselves of the 
reports of incorporated companies, of the matured judgment and counsels of 
practical civil engineers, but carefully inspected all the materials for a correct 
decision upon this interesting subject, which the advocates of the u direct rail - 
road , from Baltimore to the Ohio,” could, themselves, supply. 

These inquiries ended in a conviction which remains to this day unshaken, 
that such a canal as they have planned and partly executed, will furnish a 
much cheaper mode of transporting the heavy products of American indus¬ 
try, than any railroad whatever; and especially, than one, the cost of which 
shall not very greatly exceed that of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. In 
this opinion, they are fortified by all the recent information which they 
have been able to obtain from Europe or in America, as well as by the con¬ 
tinued practice of various incorporated companies, and States of this Union. 
Let it be remarked, that not a single canal in Europe or America has yet 
been converted into a railroad; that, from those very railways in America, 
on which reliance was early had to establish the superior advantages of rail¬ 
roads over canals, abundant testimony has been obtained to disprove the 
truth of this position, while the reference, so often repeated, to the experi¬ 
ment now in progress between Liverpool, the chief western port of En¬ 
gland, and Manchester, her greatest inland manufacturing town, through 
her richest and most extensive mineral and manufacturing district, if it 
manifests any thing at all conclusive, on this subject., demonstrates the utter' 
unfitness of this species of communication to the very uneven as well as un¬ 
improved surface of the country, between the tide of the Atlantic and the 
Ohio, and to the present condition of the wealth, arts, and population of the 
United States. 

The construction of this road, about SO miles long, has been the labor of 
six years, attended with the cost of about $ 140,000 a mile. Its highest ele¬ 
vation above tidewater is 140 feet; its patrons originally proposed by it, to 
reduce the cost of transportation between Liverpool and Manchester, from 
15 shillings sterling a ton, to 10 shillings, or eight cents a ton per mile—a 
price which, when compared with the average cost of carriage on the canals 
of the United States, exceeds the latter in the proportion of three to one. 
Persons are hired along the margin of this road to sweep the dust from the 
rails, to give signals of accidents, and, after all, a report of its proprietors a<A 
37 




290 


[ Doc. No. 101. j 

knowledges that the wear and tear, both of the carriages and road, surpassed 
greatly their early anticipation. 

In conformity with the sober and deliberate conclusions of experience, 
from known facts, is not only the past, but the still continued practice, as has- 
been intimated, of the most enlightened States of this Union, in all cases* 
where canals are practicable, and no narrow interests, or local jealousies 
have arisen to obstruct their execution. New York, Pennsylvania, Con¬ 
necticut, and Ohio, may be confidently cited to sustain this authoritative 
appeal to experience. 

A report on the long contemplated and much desired union of the waters 
of the Delaware and the Raritan, adds to these authorities the weight of the- 
commonwealth of New Jersey, whose proceedings in connecting the waters 
of her rivers, have been marked by so much prudence and circumspection. 
In the language of the committee, to whom was referred the subject of the 
Delaware and Raritan canals, addressed to the House of Assembly of that 
State, in January, 1829, in answer to the suggestion that “there is time 
enough to profit by additional experience,” your memorialists admit that 
“science is daily improving, 3 ” but, like the authors of that able report, they 
are not willing, and they trust, that the)' shall not be required, to delay a 
great national enterprise “till time ceases to shed new light,” and “science 
pauses in her career.” “ Time is money,” and “time stops for no man,” 
are maxims applying with peculiar force to all such enterprises. The Che¬ 
sapeake and Ohio canal, the long contemplated object of unceasing solicitude 
and unwearied labor, can be completed, in five, as readily as in fifty years. 
On the other hand, the experiments of the relative utility of railroads and 
canals, which have already occupied more than one-fourth of a century, are 
still, it would seem, regarded as inconclusive. Many years would yet be re¬ 
quired, and much capital of necessity be wasted, were the particular experi¬ 
ment instituted, which the Committee on Internal ’approvements of the last 
Congress proposed, before it would be definitely settled, by the comparative 
expense, for a series of years, of the annual repairs of the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad, and of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, to say nothing of their 
original cost, and their annual receipts. As the one deteriorated, it might 
be found that the other improved, from use. The very question, so often 
triumphantly urged on one side upon the public notice, touching the rela¬ 
tive speed of transportation, along two such lines of communication, could 
be fairly tested, only by the long continued use of both , with equal amounts 
of tonnage. That railroads should be constructed in Great Britain, where 
canals have so long afforded a monopoly of enormous profits, and have, in 
fact, appropriated to themselves almost every stream capable of being divert¬ 
ed from its natural channel, to their support, furnishes no very conclusive 
argument in favor of their superiority in America, a country in which the 
navigation of so many considerable rivers yet remains to be improved. Nor 
is the advance of the prices of railroad stock, in England, to fifty, or even 
to one hundred per cent, above par, at all more conclusive on this point, 
since, in the very same money market, canal stocks are still, in some cases, 
a hundred, in others a thousand,and even two thousand per cent., above par. 

1 he time, though remote, may, possibly will, arrive in America, when 
mere speed of transportation will warrant the very heavy cost of con¬ 
structing railways of such graduation, and of so many different tracks, as to 
admit of various velocities, for persons and property, moving at the same 


291 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ume ifi opposite directions; and of the substitution, on each o those tracks, 
of locomotive, or even of stationary steam engines, of various powers, for 
animal labor. When this period does arrive, it will be time to legislate for 
it ; until then, it is demonstrable that canals cannot be profitably turned into 

?;ailroads. 


Extracts from note E. of the appendix in Doc. No. 18, designed for the 
same purpose as the preceding. 

From the character of the canal already completed below the Point of 
Rocks, and especially of that part of it between the 11th and 33d sections, 
as well as in the vicinity of Georgetown, it must now be apparent that the 
early assurance given to the public, that, the entire eastern section could be 
finished in three years from its commencement, might have been realized, pro¬ 
vided no legal obstruction had impeded its progress, and adequate funds could 
have been provided. 

It is as confidently believed, that nothing more is necessary, in order to 
manifest the superiority of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, to any other mode 
of transportation applicable to the valley of the Potomac, than to bring it into 
actual use above the obstructions of that river, at Harper’s Ferry. 

The annexed tables, presenting an exhibit of the cost of each section of 
the canal, from the tide-lock in the mole at Washington, to the Point of 
Rocks, and of the estimated cost of the twelve miles above that point, which 
remain to be constructed^ in order to reach the mouth of the Shenandoah, 
will show that the work above Georgetown, done, and to be done, on the 
first sixty miles of the canal, will cost about 30,000 dollars a mile, exclusive 
of contingencies. In one of those tables, a comparison is instituted between 
the actual cost of this work and the estimate made of it by the United States 9 
engineers, who terminated their calculations at Market street in George¬ 
town; where they proposed to form a basin, and to which, therefore, this 
comparative view is made to descend. 

For the sake of any inference which may be drawn from this comparison, 
it should not be forgotten, that the breadth of the canal, at the water line, 
was designed, by the United States’ engineers, to be 48 feet, its bottom 33 
feet, and its depth /> feet; of which, they say, “this transverse section is to 
be modified, where local circumstances require it, and more especially, in 
the cases of deep cutting, steep side-cutting, embanking, and also where the 
canal is supported by walls. The depth of 5 feet has been preserved 
throughout the line, but the breadth has often been much lessened.” 

The actual canal, on the contrary, is 60 feet wide at the water-line, 42 at 
bottom, and 6 feet deep, and has been reduced in breadth, below these di¬ 
mensions, though all the above contingencies frequently occur in its course, 
for less than a single mile altogether, of the 48, now very nearly completed. 
It is, indeed, much more frequently enlarged than reduced; it is never less 
than 6 feet deep; and where its breadth, as for the four miles next above 
Georgetown, is less than 80 feet, its depth is extended to seven feet below 
the top water line, forming a cross-section, throughout, of about 420 feet 
below water. 

To compare these two canals together, the surface of their respective tow- 
paths and berm-banks being, with the same inside slope, two feet above 


sm 


[ Doe. No. 101. ] 

their water-line, it should be considered, that their entire cross sections, or- 
mean breadth, multiplied into their depth, are to each other as 432 to 304. 6; 
and the cross sections of their water-prisms, where the larger is only G feet 
deep, as 30G to 202.5. 

The breadth of the tow-path of the larger canal is, also, constructed three 
feet wider than that required by the estimate of the smaller; the culverts of 
the larger are never reduced to a less length, than a canal of 60 feet breadth 
requires: all of them are constructed, where practicable, so high, as to ena¬ 
ble a laborer to walk erect through them, and several are enlarged to dimen¬ 
sions which will permit loaded wagons, and all other conveyances for per¬ 
sons or commodities, to pass under them. The locks are four feet shorter 
than those recommended by the United States’ engineers; but they are, at 
the same time, a foot wider and a foot deeper; and they are all constructed 
of cut-stone masonry, laid in hydraulic lime, without any use of common 
lime, except in the backing of a few of them, where, in the facing, the 
English Roman cement was freely used. Grubbing will be found not to 
have been included in the estimate of the United States’ engineers, nor the 
incidental expenses of excavating and embanking the locks, constructing 
houses for lock keepers, nor the necessary improvements developed, on 
opening the canal, by the admission of water. These items in the table 
swell the cost of the actual canal 110,000 dollars; on the other hand, the cost 
of but one permanent bridge, and an allowance of 4,400 dollars for that and 
the bridges above the Market house in Georgetown, is included in the cost 
of the part of this canal above that town. The cost of fencing, estimated 
by the United States’ engineers at 54,900 dollars, although not included in 
the actual cost of the work, is comprehended, in the indemnities award¬ 
ed by juries, and the compensation voluntarily agreed on, or the prices 
paid, for the land purchased of the adjacent proprietors in behalf of the 
company, between the canal and river. 

The United States’engineers considered their estimate, moreover, as pos¬ 
sibly covering the usual allowance of five or ten per cent, for unforseen con¬ 
tingencies-—some of which arc comprehended in the cost of this part of the 
actual canal, and others of which have been already noticed in this report. 

As might have been expected from the enlarged dimensions of the area 
and embankments of the new canal, the quantities of the work estimated, 
and done, essentially and greatly vary. The cubic yards of embankment 
estimated by the United States’ engineers, for the canal below Harper’s 
Ferry, amounting to 74S,5S0 yards, and, if the puddiing be added, which 
does not seem, from the estimate of its cost, to have been designed to affect 
the quantity of the embankment, to 1,056,710 cubic yards; while the actual 
embankment, including the puddling, as the calculation requires, added to 
the estimated quantity of that remaining to be done, amounts to 1,753,571, 
exclusive of the embankments around the locks, which are separately charg¬ 
ed in account, and amount to no inconsiderable quantity. 

The excavation and the walling are, in quantity, nearly the same, though 
differing in cost near $740,000. The walling of the actual canal exceeds 
that of the estimated, less than 14,000 cubic yards, while the computed cost 
of the latter surpasses the actual cost of the former near $500,000. Ninety- 
six culverts are provided for in the estimate; eightv-one in the canal; but the 
disproportion in breadth, between the aqueducts," arises from the different 
denominations given to them: the aggregate cost of both, on the two 
canals, varying less than 4,000 dollars, notwithstanding the greater breadth 
of those on the larger canal, and the peculiar difficulties attending the con- 


293 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

struction of the aqueduct across the Monocacy, which surpasses in the size 
of its arches, and exceeds in length, as does that at Seneca, the dimensions 
for which an estimate is given by the United Slates’ engineers. 

The total difference, presented by this table, of the cost of these two canals, 
is, subject to the preceding explanations, 677,184 dollars, on an expenditure 
actual and estimated, of 1,84S,941 dollars; and this, notwithstanding the 
great enlargement of the area and embankments of the cheaper canal * 

These facts and comparisons are presented to the stockholders, and to the 
public, in no spirit of triumph over the very eminent, disinterested, and 
highly honorable engineers, by w r hom the first estimate of this work was 
made; it is well known, and gratefully acknowledged, with no unfriendly 
feeling towards its future progress. This progress, indeed, their very errors 
are calculated to promote: for, having accustomed the public mind to so large 
an estimate of this w r ork, they have laid the foundation of its ultimate suc¬ 
cess, by tho contentment with its actual cost and plan, and, it is believed, 
with its construction also, which, whatever dissatisfaction may elsewhere 
prevail, must finally pervade its early and stead) patrons, as well as the sub¬ 
scribers to its stock. 

But this comparison will disprove, and such is one of its purposes, 
the allegation, recently repeated, after reiterated contradictions, that the ac¬ 
tual cost of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal had not fallen short of that esti¬ 
mate, by which, the construction of its eastern section of 186 miles, ending 
.at Cumberland, was made to reach $8,177,081 05, and its total cost to Pitts¬ 
burg $22,375,427 69. 

Lest advantage shall be supposed to have been taken in the compari¬ 
son just closed, either of the easier ground, along the bottoms above Seneca 
and the Monocacy, or of the mere estimate of the work, not, as yet, begun, 
between the Point of Rocks and Harper’s Ferry, the board especially in*- 
vite the public attention to the portion of the canal which is not only com- 
i pleted, but has now been in actual use for several months; and, of this, to 
| the tenth subdivision, which extends from the head of the Great Falls, to 
tide-water, at the old locks below the Little Falls. 

The accompanying table, distinguishing the several subdivisions of the 
canal, from the 7th, beginning at Harper’s Ferry, to the 11th, ending at 
the Market house in Georgetown, gives to the 10th a length of 11 miles 
1023 yards in the estimate by the United States’ engineers, and 10 miles 
1005 yards in the actual canal between the same termini; a difference occa¬ 
sioned by a change of the location for about three miJles and a half of the 
way. The difference of cost, after deducting from the estimate the comput¬ 
ed expense of the locks transferred from the 10th to the 11th section, on this 
subdivision of the canal, largely exceeds 200,000 dollars. While the actual 
: excavation and embankment, together, of the new canal, surpass, in quan- 
y tity, the estimated quantity of earth and rock 124,000 cubic yards, the wall- 
i ing 27,463 perches, the actual cost of the three items is less, on the larger 
canal, than in the estimate for the smaller, by 265,9S5 dollars, although the 

1 embankment of the larger subdivision exceeds that of the smaller, in cost 
56,747 dollars, and, in quantity, including the earth puddled, in the ratio of 
very near two to one. If the quantity of puddling should not be added to 
the quantity of the earth estimated in this ratio, which is believed to be cor- 
» rect, then this ratio will be as 529,933 to 150,S60, or will considerably ex¬ 
ceed 3 to 1. 

* Thereat expenditure lias been found to exceed the estimated, so as to reduce this sum 
; :o‘about *500,000. 




294 


£ Doc. No. 101. J 

To guard against the supposition that this part of the canal passes over 
easy ground, here follows the description of it by the United States* engi¬ 
neers, in their own language, to be seen in the 49th page of a congressional 
document. 

“ Subdivision 10 th. From the head of the Great Falls to tide, below 
the Little Falls: 

Distance, 112 miles—descent, 173 feet —22 looks. 

From Cumberland, 1S3£ 578 74 

“The breaking of the Potomac through the granite ridge, at the Great 
Falls, presents, at first sight, difficulties of the greatest magnitude. The 
river gradually narrows its channel as it approaches its perpendicular pitch. 
At this point, and a little below, the width does not exceed one hundred 
yards, at a moderate stage of the stream. Here the perpendicular rock, 60 
or 70 feet high, forming the banks, the deep water at their foot, the violence 
and great rise of the freshets, render truly appalling the idea of supporting a 
canal along this pass by means of walls. Most happily, there is no necessity 
for such a plan; a ravine, or rather two ravines, which can be rendered con¬ 
tinuous by comparatively little labor, extend for the whole distance between 
what is termed Bear island and the high bluffs forming the Maryland shore 

“ This fortunate circumstance will not only enable to make the canal here 
at much less expense than through the pass of the stream, but it will also 
procure to the work a security which neither ingenuity nor expense could 
afford on the other alternative. 

“ Below the Great Falls, the ground, with the exception of some por¬ 
tions of easy execution, is generally difficult, requiring a large extent of 
walling and ot steep side cutting, for about seven miles: that is to say, as far 
down as the head of the actual canal round the Little Falls,” 

Although the location of this line was improved by subsequent examina-' 
tion, yet, on no canal in America, and on very few, if any, in the world, 
will there be found, and certainly on no part of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal, do there remain to be encountered, obstacles more appalling, than have 
been here overcome: so they were regarded by the distinguished foreign 
engineer then at the head of the United States’ Board of Internal Improve-1 
ment, whose language has been quoted above. 

In the compass of eleven miles, along precipices of granite, bounding a 
river which bore last winter, on its bosom, ice and snow, elevated for several 
miles thirty feet above its ordinary height, a canal was to be constructed, to 
overcome a rise of 128 feet, being more than eleven feet in each mile. For 
a part of this way, a practicable pathway could not be formed but at great 
cost; and many hundred acres of huge and craggy rocks, piled on each other, 
chilled the enterprise which attempted to subdue them. Earth was to be 
derived from remote distances to construct embankments, and the embank¬ 
ments to precede the transportation of the stone and other materials required 
for the construction of six of the sixteen locks. The beds of not a few of 
these were either to be sunk in the uneven rock, or to be lifted up high above 
it, and sustained by lateral walls and embankments. It is not wonderful 
that the United States’ engineers, who first traversed, described, and esti¬ 
mated the route for this canal, along the north bank of the Potomac, around 
the Great Falls, should have estimated its cost at near 80,000 dollars a mile, 
supposing their canal to be forty-eight feet wide at the surface of the water, 
and five feet deep except where “ reduced considerably as often as, pecu¬ 
liar difficulties, which here occurred at every step of their way, required 
that breadth to be diminished 


29 5 


[ Doc. No. 101. j 

A reproof is given to those persevering misrepresentations, wh : ch swell 
the actual to very near the estimated cost of this work, by the spectacle 
of a canal, in use, between the same termini on the Potomac, completed at 
a cost of 20,000 dollars a mile less than that estimate; constructed, too, with 
a breadth exceeding every where in that distance, forty-eight feet, often more 
and seldom less than sixty feet, and a depth never short of six feet; having 
beneath it, numerous culverts, some large enough to serve as viaducts to 
every species of conveyance; with sixteen cut stone locks, laid in hydraulic 
lime, seven of which are of hard granite blocks, and nine of free stone, 
transported from 10 to 60 miles, by water and land; while the canal itself 
is, for several miles of the eleven, lined along one or both of its inner slopes 
with a neat stone pavement, supported on the outside by massy walls, in 
some places sixty feet high, to guard it from abrasion, and has, moreover, 
included in its cost, more than 22,000 dollars expended on its improvement,, 
exclusive of its repairs, since the opening of its navigation. "* 

Several benefits would accrue to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company 
from a close analysis of the causes of the actual, compared with the estimated, 
cost of this enlarged and difficult lino of canal. Among them, would be a 
general conviction, that too much has not been expended in repeated surveys, 
by eminent practical civil engineers, preparatory to its final location; nor if 
the number, variety, and quality of its works be regarded, in multiplying, 
to the necessary extent, the corps of engineers, by whom its actual construc¬ 
tion was to be vigilantly and constantly watched. 

There can be no question but that the part of the canal already completed 
exceeds in difficulty, and will be found to harve surpassed in cost, that part 
of the eastern section which remains to be executed. 

Between Harper’s Ferry and the basin of Washington and Georgetown, 
31 of the 72 lift-locks of this section occur; so that 248 feet of the entire ele¬ 
vation from the tide to Cumberland, will have been surmounted in the first 
60 miles o^the 186 which constitute the entire eastern section; making, if 
this proportion be examined, a difference of more than $3,000 per mile, for 
lockage only, in favor of the part of the canal above the Shenandoah. 

In the single material of hydraulic lime, required for every species of ma¬ 
sonry exposed to the action of water, and absolutely necessary in the con¬ 
struction of durable locks of stone, not less than the farther saving of 500 
dollars will be effected on the cost of each lock, by the reduced price of 
transportation. 

Stone, if not more abundant, will be found more conveniently distributed, 
above the Blue Ridge, than below. Outward protection walls will be often 
required, and, for considerable distances, above, as below, but no walls or 
embankments, exceeding in height one-half of the elevation of those on 12th, 
15th, and 18th sections of the work already completed. Much narrower 
dams across the river, as noticed in the former report, will be necessary to 
fill the feeders at and above Harper’s Ferry. Above all, setting down at 
nothing the gain of experience, the general health ot the valley of the Poto¬ 
mac, and the abundant supply of provisions and accommodation, which that 
circumstance, as well as the superior fertility of the country, promises to the 
laborer above the Point of Rocks, will reduce the price of every species of 
work after passing that point. 

If the company shall be permitted, by the courts of Maryland, to conduct 
their canal along her shore, on the ground so often surveyed for its use, no 
aqueduct like that of seyen arches of fifty-four feet span, across the Mono* 



296 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

eacy, will occur to swell the cost of the masonry above that river. All th& 
aqueducts and culverts of the 140 miles above will probably not exceed, in 
cost, those of the 46 miles below the Point of Rocks. 

Twenty-five thousand dollars a mile is, therefore, considered an ample 
estimate of the part of the eastern section, in length 126 miles, above Har¬ 
per’s Ferry. This part of the canal will therefore, require for its construc¬ 
tion 3,150,000 dollars, which, added to the cost of that between Harper’s 
Ferry and Georgetown, will produce very near the former estimate of 
5,000,000 dollars, leaving, as that estimate did, the works in and above that 
town, to be paid for by the peculiar uses of which they are susceptible, in 
the manner heretofore proposed. 

The compass of this already extended report refuses admittance, into its 
text, of all the very interesting intelligence to be derived from the late work 
of Mr. William Fairbairn, addressed to Thomas Grahame, esq. of Glasgow, 
from which the following extracts are made: 

They prove, beyond the possibility of doubt, that a velocity of 15 miles 
an hour has been attained on the Forth and Clyde canal, which, although 
ten feet deep, is, in width, but three feet broader than the Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal; that, on the Ardrossan canal, one of the narrowest in Scot¬ 
land, a velocity of 12 miles per hour has been attained, and that “ eight 
persons and the steersman of a boat accomplished a distance of two miles, 
with one horse, in ten minutes, without any surge, or agitation of the wa¬ 
ter, injurious to the banks.” 

The summary of the results from the first experiments on the Forth and 
Clyde canal, embraced three objects, worthy of particular notice, as this au¬ 
thor very justly affirms: “ First, the ease with which boats were brought 
up, or stopped, when moving at a high rate of velocity; secondly, the little 
additional labor, in drawing, occasioned to the horse, when drawing the 
boat at this high rate, as compared with a low rate of velocity; and thirdly, 
the apparent diminution of the surge, or agitation in the water, at a high 
rate of velocity. 

Since these experiments, “ a boat has been regularly plying between 
Glasgow, Paisley, and Johnston, on the Ardrossan canal,” and carrying 
“from forty to fifty passengers, at the rate of from nine to ten miles an 
hour.” 

Other experiments have been made, on the Monkland, the Union, and 
the Forth and Clyde canals of Scotland., to two of which, made on the last 
of these canals, as far back as the 7th and 8th of July, 1830, the attention of 
the stockholders is particularly invited, as they show that the velocity of the 
passage-boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, will not encounter pecu¬ 
liar or inseparable obstructions from its numerous locks. It has, as yet, but 
one permanent bridge above Georgetown, in a distance of 4S miles, and that 
is not only very elevated, but designed to be provided with a suitable draw. 

“ On Wednesday, the 7th of July, the Swift, a boat 60 feet long and S 
feet 6 inches broad, twin built, and fitted to carry from 50 to 60 passengers, 
started from Port Dundas, at 16 minutes past nine in the morning, having 
on board 33 passengers (all men) and their baggage. Proceeding through 
the Forth, and Clyde, and Union canals, she reached Edinburgh at 29 mi¬ 
nutes past four io the afternoon. She thus made a voyage of 56 miles and a 
half in the space of 7 hours and 14 minutes. In the course of this voyage, 
she passed through 15 locks, 18 draw-bridges, a tunnel of 750 yards long, 
and ovet three long narrow aqueducts, and under 60 common bridges r 


297 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

which carry roads over the Union canal. Her average rale of speed, 
during the voyage, was nearly eight miles per hour, including every stop¬ 
page.” 

“On the following day, Thursday, the 8th of July, the Swift started 
from Edinburgh, 22 minutes past nine in the morning, and returning by 
the same route, with 33 passengers (all men,) and luggage, she reached Glas¬ 
gow precisely at 4 o’clock in the afternoon—that is, in 6 hours 38 minutes: 
going, thus, at the rate of nearly nine miles per hour.” “ On both days the 
weather was most unfavorable, from much rain, and a strong gale of wind 
directly in her face, having been from the east on Wednesday, and from the 
west on Thursday.” “ When free from the locks, tunnel, and other im¬ 
pediments, the speed at which she proceeded varied from 6 to 12 miles an 
hour; and the extraordinary results of the previous experiments made on 
the Paisley canal, and Forth and Clyde canal, were again completely veri¬ 
fied and ascertained during her progress through 113 miles of canal naviga¬ 
tion. For it appeared that when she moved through the water at the rate 
of 6 or 7 miles an hour, there was a great swell or wave constantly in her 
front, and she was followed by a strong surge or wave bearing against the 
bank of the canal. At these times, the hauling rope was tight, and the 
horses appeared to be distressed. But, as the speed was increased, the wave, 
or swelling of water in her front, sunk down; and when the speed came to 
he about nine miles an hour, the swell entirely disappeared; the waters in 
front became smooth and level; the hauling rope slackened, and the horses 
seemed easy; and little or no surge was to be seen on the banks behind the 
vessel.” 

On these experiments, the following comment is made Jjy the same writer: 
“ There appears, therefore, no reason to fear that the banks of canals can 
1 ever be hurt by increasing the speed of boats to the utmost attainable height; 

and measures are in progress for increasing the speed of passage-boats on the 
, Forth and Clyde canal, and the Union canal; or, at least, of keeping it, 
during the whole voyage between Glasgow and Edinburgh, to the highest 

I rate which has been already realized, and thus reducing the time consumed 
in the voyage to five hours.” 

To these experiments, Mr. Fairbairn has added many others, which are 
referred to in the text, and more minutely described in the appendix of his 
very interesting work; and from them he deduces results confounding all 
> the established theories, “ that the resistance to a body drawn along a line of 
water confined within the banks of a canal, did not appear to increase in the 
i ratio laid down in theory; and that, while at a low rate of velocity, viz. at 
} and under six miles an hour, the resistance to the progress of the boat, on a 
;» broad line of water, was considerably less than on a narrower line; on the 
i contrary, at a high rate of velocity, say above ten miles an hour, the forces 
necessary to the propulsion of the boat, on a broad and narrow line of water, 
i appeared to be the same, if the advantage was not rather in favor of the 
narrow line.” 

From these observations, he was induced <( to recommend, and the Forth 
and Clyde Canal Company to agree to build a light twin iron steam passage- 
boat, to ply between Glasgow and Edinburgh,” which, at the date of his 
publication, he was preparing to hunch. “ Her length is to be 68 feet, her 
breadth of beam ll?j feet, her steam-engine to be of ten horse power, the 
diameter of her paddle-wheel 9 feet,” “and its motion calculated to give 
i from 50 to 60 strokes in the minute; her whole weight 7 tons 16 cwt. and 
38 


298 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

her draught of water 1G inches. She will accommodate from 100 to 150 
passengers; her anticipated velocity will be from nine to ten miles an hour, 
and the cost to the canal company, for the conveyance of a passenger be¬ 
tween Edinburgh and Glasgow, 56 miles, will not much exceed two pence; 
which,” Mr. Fairbrain adds, <l is not a fifteenth of the expense of the con¬ 
veyance of the same person, at the same rate, supposing it attainable and 
maintainable, by horses.” 

Mr. Fairbairn says, “ that however much I was persuaded that steam 
power was the cheapest for high velocities, and also for propelling vessels 
in canals, where the trade was regular, I was not, till lately, prepared to con¬ 
sider a steamboat, on a canal, as the cheapest for the conveyance of goods, 
where the trade was irregular, and where the boat had not only to contain a 
cargo, but, at the same time, to carry her own engine, and all the conve- 
niencies necessary for the application of machinery.” 

But he proceeds—“ Mr. Grahame has lately put into my hands a letter 
on this subject, addressed to a shipping company, carrying goods along a 
line of canal 56 miles in length; the calculations contained in that commu¬ 
nication are given in the appendix, and seem to be decisive in favor of steam 
power. The company to which this letter is addressed, have to pay for a. 
quantity of horse power sufficient to deliver forty tons of goods,at each ex¬ 
tremity of this line of 56 miles, every day in the year, besides a spare 
power employed chiefly in one particular branch of their trade. 

“The sum they pay for each delivery is one guinea, each way, or at a 
rate of about one-ninth of a penny per ton per mile, for the trackage of the 
goods conveyed, the company in question supplying the tracking lines, but, 
with this addition the charge fortrackage is not increased to one-eight 
of a penny per ton per mile. 

“ This,” says Mr. Fairbairn, “ is certainly a small sum whereon to effect 
a saving by a change of power; but, nevertheless, it appears (from Mr. 
Grahame’s and my own calculations) that not only such saving may be ef¬ 
fected, but an additional saving of a large portion of time can be made, by 
the change from horse to steam power.” 

“The calculations there referred to, make it quite unnecessary,” adds 
the writer, “ to say any thing on the subject of steam power as a substitute 
for trackage, on canals. If it be so much cheaper than horses, in the ex¬ 
pensive shape of a moving and carrying power united in the same boat y 
what advantages may not all canals derive from its introduction, in the 
cheap form of a tug boat, in place of horses?” 

In his appendix, the author adds—“ I am the more convinced of the effi¬ 
cacy of steam trackage above all others, from the circumstance that the train 
of boats intended to be towed, would follow in each other’s wake: as the 
eddy formed by the leading vessel materially lessens the resistance opposed 
to the succeeding boats.” “ The small amount of power required to a tow 
vessel, was remarked by Mr. Grahame, in his account of the voyage of the 
Cyclops, from Alloa to Port Dundas.” He states that “ when we brought her 
into the canal, we attached her to the passage boat, and she drew her along 
the canal two miles—one mile in fourteen,'and the other in fifteen minutes. 
We then detached her from the passage-boat, and did two other miles, but 
could not save by this decrease of labor, more than a minute, or a minute 
and a few seconds in each mile. One thing is very evident,” says Mr. Fair¬ 
bairn, “ that the introduction of steam instead of animal power, - would dis¬ 
pense with the annual repairs and maintenance of the horse paths; the com- 


299 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

plaints and delays arising from drivers, horses, &c. would be avoided, and 
many contingent expenses saved by the introduction of this never-failing 
and very effective agent as a moving power for the towage of boats on canals. ” 

The great importance of the facts and views supplied by the work of Mr. 
Fairbairn, of which, it is believed, but very few copies have reached the 
United States, will constitute, it is confidently hoped, a sufficient apology 
for the copious extracts here made from it. If this work shall serve but Vo 
invite the public attention to the erroneous but prevalent opinion, that no 
further improvement can be made in inland navigation, by canals, because, 
sustained by monopoly, they have been so long stationary, this notice of Mr. 
Fairbairn’s work cannot prove useless, since experience, as he has incon- 
testibly shown, is exploding the doctrines on this subject, hitherto sustained, 
without exception from any quarter, by the exclusive advocates of railroads. 

But the board do not feel that they would discharge their duty to their im¬ 
mediate constituents, or to the public, who are interested in the completion of 
the great highway which they have long been constructing, if they did not 
proceed one or two steps farther in this investigation. 

In the course of proceeding to which a committee of the House of Dele¬ 
gates of Maryland resorted, last winter, letters were cotemporaneously ad¬ 
dressed by the chairman of the committee, to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail¬ 
road, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Companies, inquiring, among 
other topics, for which the undersigned beg leave to refer to the letter itself, 
“ into the relative expense, benefits, and facilities of constructing railroads 
and canals, with a view of ascertaining to which of these means the funds 
of the State can be most beneficially applied.” Their own answer to this 
letter, through the official communication of the President of the board, 
will be seen in an accompanying printed pamphlet. • 

That of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company was made, in part, 
through their chief engineer;' and never having been seen by this board, nor 
the report, of which it made a part, till since f the adjournment of the Legis¬ 
lature of Maryland, the present affords the first occasion for referring to 
some of its very curious contents. 

Reserving for a separate notice, the other subjects of the report, and es¬ 
pecially those of a personal nature, seemingly designed, and certainly cal¬ 
culated, to reflect on the proceedings of this board, they invite the attention 
of the stockholders ofthe company, and of the public, to the very singular use, 
among others, which the chief engineer of the Railroad Company, has made 
of the joint survey fora railroad and canal, along the difficult passes, four in 
number, somewhat less than two miles in extent, in a distance of twelve, 
between the Point of Rocks and Harper’s Ferry, in order to establish the 
superior economy of railroads to canals. 

The writer premises, “ that, as a canal and a railroad cannot be construct¬ 
ed between any two points on the same identical route, the evidence of their 
comparative expense, on a given line, must consequently be that of an esti¬ 
mate for each, or by an approximate conclusion drawn from analogy;” “ I 
know,” he adds, “of but one route on which careful estimates have been 
made at the same time, both for a canal and a railroad. The route here al¬ 
luded to, is along the Potomac river,, from the Point of Rocks to Harper’s 
Ferry, or at least so much of that route as was included in the narrow 
passes:” as was included, he should have added, in 1-J- mile, out of a dis- 
ance of 12, along which no estimate whatever was made for a railroad of 
any description. The survey oPuhat engineer having been exclusively di- 


soo 


[ Doc. No. 101. j 

rected to (hose narrow passes, as the only lines of expected interference be- 
tween the canal and railroad. 

But his conclusion far outruns his premises. a From these estimates, 
therefore, added to the estimates for the railroad, an average price for the 
laying of three tracks of railway, on the graduated surface, so to be prepar¬ 
ed, we arrive at results which will give the comparative probable expense 
of both the canal and railroad. The canal was assumed to be of such dimen¬ 
sions, that, with a depth of water of six feet, its cross section should contain 
an arena” [supposed to be intended for area] “of 306 square feet. The 
breadth of graduation for the railroad was to be 30 feet.” Hence, as the 
canal was to cost, at these narrow passes, “at the rate of $79,036 per mile, 
and the railroad constructed on wooden sills, but $38,294 per mile, or after 
adding $1,000 or 1,500 per mile for stone sills, something less than $40,- 
000,” the writer concludes, “on the whole, since the estimates for the ca¬ 
nal do not include any lockage, although AO feet elevation is to be over¬ 
come between the Point of Rocks and Harper’s Ferry, nor $5,000 a 
mile,” at which he is pleased to estimate the cost of lining the interior banks 
of the canal with stone:; “ a precaution,” he says, “ without which, the 
expei'ience of the Erie canal shows that no such work can be considered 
as finished,” “that the ratio of the probable expense of a railroad and canal 
will, on the ground here estimated, be as two for the canal, to one for the 
railroad.” 

So singular does his own conclusion appear to himself, that, to guard 
against criticism, he acknowledges in his fourth commentary on these com¬ 
parative estimates, that, “ he has not seen the last estimates for the canal, on 
the intermediate grounds, (more than ten miles of the twelve,) and there.- 
fore cannot institute so strict a comparison with regard to them;” but he 
makes a broad assertion, that “in the most favorable ground along the 
river bottom lands, the expense of the canal will exceed that of the railroad, 
from 25 to 50 per cent.” •» 

Whether this reasoning proved satisfactory to the President of the Balti¬ 
more and Ohio Railroad Company, to whom it was addressed, and by whom 
it was transmitted, without comment, to the committee of the House of Dele¬ 
gates of Mar}dand, does not further appear, any more than does the effect 
it may have produced on the committee or on the House. But such reason¬ 
ing is so extraordinary in itself, and contradictory of known facts, part of 
which are supplied by the author himself, that it is difficult to reconcile it to 
his high reputation for candor. 

The spaces along which the four short lines of canal and railroad were 
expected to come in collision, the longest of which is in length but 3,052 
feet, and the shortest 1,126, are four difficult projecting cliffs of rocks, hem¬ 
ming in the current of the Potomac, at the bases of the mountains and ridges, 
by which it descends, from the Blue Ridge, through the Kitoctin mountain. 
The railroad was to be bedded on these rocks, for a space of 30 feet only, in 
breadth. The canal, having a cross section of 306 feet; and a depth of 6 
only, could not have a breadth, at the surface, of less than 51 feet; and, add¬ 
ing 3 feet, for the stretch of the inner slope of earth, next the river, 12 for 
the breadth of its tow-path, and 20 for the horizontal stretch of the outward 
slope; supposing that the tow-path bank is not any higher, above its base, (here 
in the river,) which is improbable, and that the angle of the slope is as steep 
as 45°, which would be inexpedient, we have a space, constructed, partly on 
rock and partly in water, of the breadth of 86 feet, compared with one of 
30 feet; and the canal, in this space, charged with all the attendant ex- 


301 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 

penses of'outside walling, to guard against abrasion from the fiver, puddling 
within its banks in order to retain the water admitted into it, and, as the 
calculator provides, $5,000 a mile also, for paving within, although one of 
its sides must be of rock. 

Had the writer inquired for the estimates of the part of this canal along 
the “intermediate grounds,’ 7 he would have found that the working esti¬ 
mate, prepared to regulate the acceptance or rejection of proposals for its 
construction, does not extend the cost of the twelve miles, after including 
not only its lockage, but the expense of a substantial dam across the river, 
immediately below Harper’s Ferry, beyond $250,000; a sum, less than that, 
which he admits the railroad will cost, within the same distance.* For, put¬ 
ting down the cost of the road provided for, on his own estimate, at $39,794 
a mile, and its length, at his measurement, of 11,134 feet, its tracks, as he 
proposes, at three in number, to be laid on stone sills, as he suggests, though 
on the principle of perfection, which he applies to canals, he ought to pro¬ 
vide, at least, a fourth track, for the cars to pass each other with various ve¬ 
locities, which would add to this estimate at least $13,233 more, for this 
track; and the further cost of graduation, and their results, in order to reach 
Harper’s Ferry, for the 3 tracks, at $6,50G each, on a line of 9 miles, and 
4,706 feet, for the.rails alone, $192,8S0, which, added to the cost of 11,134 
feet, computed, by himself, at $39,794 a mile, furnishes an aggregate of 
$276,794 without any allowance whatever for graduating the foundation of 
the rails for a distance of 9 miles and 4,706 feet, or for a single perch of ma¬ 
sonry, for culverts, viaducts, or side drains of any description ; an aggregate 
exceeding the working estimate for the canal, along the same line, by the 
sum of $26,794; and if, but a moderate allowance be made for the gradua¬ 
tion, including the masonry of the railroad, by a sum, not much short of one 
hundred thousand dollars. 

It has been acknowledged that these items, exclusive of the rail tracks on 
the first 7 miles of this road, leading'out* of Baltimore, cost $438,775 85, 
exclusive of all contingencies, being $62,654 80 per mile; and allowing for 
three tracks with stone sills, make up a sum, exceeding $80,000 a mile, 
exclusive of contingencies. These, even on this part of this road, cannot 
appear inconsiderable when reference is had to the report of the President 
and Directors, from which the above facts are obtained, wherein “ sixty- 
one thousand one hundred axd seventy-seven dollars twenty-live cents are 
charged to expenses incurred in surveys and locations, including the pay 
of engineers and their assistants; six thousand eight hundred and sixty-live 
dollars thirty-two cents for law expenses, fees of counsel, and chancery ex¬ 
penses; and sixty-six thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight dollars sixty- 
two cents for cost of machinery, for the purpose of construction of the rail¬ 
road, of transportation and weighing, including the purchase of patent 
rights, and moving power, contingencies, expenses of widening the cuts, 
and embankments, and perfecting the graduation at the time of laying the 
rails, releases of the right of way, discounts, expenses of opening the 
books, &c.” How much of the $66,9SS 62 should be charged to the first 
seven miles of the road is not stated, though a part of it would seem to be¬ 
long to the graduation, or the “ perfecting of the graduation, .prior to the 
laying of the rails,” it being the part of this road whereon the rails were 
first laid; nothing is added for the improvements subsequent to opening the 
road. 

*The 12 miles have recently been placed under actual contract, for $324,0,00; including the 
cost of land rights and fencing, and five per cent, for contingencies. 


302 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

It would, it is obvious, be unfair to charge the proposed railway, between 
Harper’s Ferry and the Point of Rocks, with the maximum cost of the gradua¬ 
tion, on the most expensive part of the route of this road, but it would be 
equally correct, with the course actually pursued, by the chief engineer of 
this company, in ascertaining the relative costs of canals and railroads, by re¬ 
ferring to the construction of short pieces of canals and railways, under, 
or upon precipices of granite, and in the bottoms, or along the rocky margin 
of rapid rivers. 

Much more incorrect, however, is the general assertion of this engineer, 
that, “ on the most favorable ground,” for a canal, “ its cost will exceed by 
50 or 25 per cent, that of a railway,” (of course such as he has been, describ¬ 
ing,) of three tracks, or at least of two tracks. 

Several miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal have been constructed, 
along the bottoms of the Potomac, for less than the cost of the rails of a single 
railway track; one half mile, on level ground, at little more than $1,800; and 
the possibility of this is obvious to any engineer, who will take the trouble 
to make a calculation of the necessary depth of cutting, to supply the banks 
of a canal, where you can choose its level. 

It is not, however, more so, than what the same engineer attempts-to prove 
in relation to “ other routes of canals and railroads,” than those of a few 
thousand fe'et under the precipices of the Potomac, to which he first gives his 
candid attention. 

The liberality of his course of inquiry towards the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal is here again manifested in his statement, “ that, so far as the structure 
of this canal has been prosecuted, it has been understood,” he does not say 
by whom, “ that the estimate of its cost, at $5,000,000 between Georgetown, 
and Cumberland, has been found to be wholly inadequate; and he is of 
opinion , that, unless the dimensions of the canal be contracted, or the work 
be made less permanent in character, the estimate first mentioned, that of 
$8,174,000, will be not far from the amount which that work will have ac¬ 
tually cost, tthuld it ever he completed, to Cumberland.” 

It is now, well known, that no survey, of any description, for a railway up 
the left bank of the Potomac, had been attempted, before the purchase, by 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, with a celerity unexampled,, 
of the ground along the difficult passes, on the left bank of that river,, 
where they admit, themselves, that no choice of way existed; and while it 
is believed that no working survey has even since been completed of the en¬ 
tire route of a railway from the Point of Rocks to Cumberland, it is not a 
little astonishing, that the chief engineer of this company, who has so little 
reliance on the calculations of experience, entertains the confident belief 
that the railway from Baltimore to Cumberland, will not exceed, in cost, 
$ 5 , 000 , 000 ! 

He also believes, it appears,[that the expense'of constructing a canal, from 
Baltimore to the c< Point of Rocks, would be double , what the railroad, be¬ 
tween the same points , will cost:” while the reason that he gives for this 
belief, is, that the estimate reported by Dr. Howard, “for a canal from 
Georgetown to Baltimore, the length being 44| miles, amounted to 
$2,800,000.” Now, this author of the comparative estimate of the cost of 
railroads and canals, might have as well assumed any other estimated route 
for a canal, as this, for his standard of comparison; since the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad, in passing to the Point of Rocks, occupies but a verv smalL 
part, if any, of that space, which Dr. Howard surveyed for a canal, from Bal- 


303 


[ Doc. No. loi. ] 

timore to Georgetown; and this engineer very well knew, at the same time, 
that the estimate of the cost of this canal, was founded on the same erroneous 
data, which led Dr. Howard, in conjunction with the United States’ engi¬ 
neers, to compute a canal with a cross section of 202.5 feet, only, at a price 
greatly exceeding the actual cost of one of 306 feet, along the valley of the 
Potomac, and over very nearly the same ground. Let the estimate for the 
Baltimore canal be reduced by a reference to the actual cost of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio canal, and the estimated cost of that, by recurring, from its actual, 
to its former estimated dimensions, and a canal from Georgetown to Balti¬ 
more, 48 feet wide and 5 deep, would appear capable of construction, by this 
fair standard, at less than the present estimate of the sixty-seven miles of 
railroad from Baltimore to the Point of Rocks, or of a substantial railroad 
from Baltimore to Georgetown.* 

It is not a little surprising that, in reply to the grave call of a Legislature, 
this engineer did not recur to the ascertained cost of the archetype and model 
of all modern railroads, that between Manchester and Liverpool, for one 
term of his comparative estimate of the cost of railroads and canals. In look¬ 
ing to his other term, it is equally strange that he should have passed, un- 
heedingly, by the numerous canals of the United States. Those, for exam¬ 
ple, of New York, of Pennsylvania, and of Ohio. 

By an early report of her Canal Commissioners, the canals of New York 
were stated to have cost about seventeen thousand dollars a mile. By the 
last report of the Canal Commissioners of Ohio, 190 miles of canal in that 
State, extending from Lake Erie \o the north end of the Licking Summit, 
and now regarded as finished, have been constructed, with all their costly 
appurtenances, at a price which, embracing every contingent expense, i * less 
than $11,000 a mile; or, by $2,000 short of the cost of the mere rails of a 
double track, on stone sills, of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, according to 
the same engineer. 

This comparison omits any allowance for graduation, and contingencies 
of every description. Yet this practical civil engineer tells the Legislature 
of Maryland, iC that, in the most favorable grounds along the river bot¬ 
tom lands” of the Potomac, it is presumed, .“the expense of the canal, 
would exceed that of the railroad, from 25, to 50 per cent.” If the chief 
engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad could have awaited the late 
annual report of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad Company, he 
would have seen that a railway of only two tracks, overcoming in 321 miles 
an elevation of less than 150 feet, had cost, including all contingencies, 
.£865,000 sterling, a sum exceeding 120,000 dollars per mile; while he 
must have known, that the magnificent canal of Languedoc, in length 14S 
miles, with a mean breadth of 49 feet, and overcoming a summit of more 
than 600 feet, with a lockage of 1200—though constructed with the reve¬ 
nues of the French monarchy, cost much less per mile than the half of that 
sum. He would also have perceived that the present charge for transport¬ 
ing a bale of cotton, on the Liverpool and Manchester “railroad, is 10$. ster¬ 
ling a ton for a distance of 321 miles, and 5$. sterling for each passenger. 
Rates which, for commodities, are treble the cost of transportation, for like 
distances, on the canals of Pennsylvania and New York;pd for passengers, 
more than double the cost of transportation for the greater distance of 56 
miles, on the canal between Glasgow and Liverpool. 

* The same engineer lias since actually presented to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
Company, by whom it has been submitted to the Governor of Maryland, an estimate for this 
ror-d, which rrakfs its cost near 50,000 dollars a mile. 


304 


[ Doc. No. 191. ] 

As to the cost of repairs on canals and railways, which must regulate their 
nett profits, experience, until matured by time, can furnish no measure of 
their relative extent. Much must depend upon the excellence of their con¬ 
struction. A celebrated constructor of steam engines and carriages, who 
has recently returned to America, from England, apprises the public, that 
there is no railroad in America* of sufficient strength to bear the free use of 
locomotive engines; and whether the railroad of Liverpool and Manchester 
will sustain their use, with profit to the company, by which that costly work 
has been constructed, remains' to be verified by the fulfilment of promises 
not yet realized, and against the suggestion-of nine months’ experience, on 
a perfectly new and very smooth road. 

Lest the estimate of this board, that the canal between Georgetown and 
Cumberland will cost about-5,000,000 dollars, should appear to be impaired, by 
passing unnoticed another error of the same engineer, to whose calculations 
reference has been so often made, it is proper to remark, that if the experi¬ 
ments on the Ardrossan, and other canals of Scotland, have not destroyed 
all apprehension of injury to the banks of a canal, by boats moving on their 
surface with great velocit}^, the remedy hitherto applied to prevent such in¬ 
jury, is much less expensive than this engineer supposes, who charges 5*000- 
dollars a-mile for walls calculated to protect the inner slopes of a canal from 
washing. More than 40,000 superficial yards, one foot in thickness, of such 
walls, have already been constructed in the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, at 
the cost of less than sixteen cents a yard, including the price of transporting a- 
part of the stone some distance by land. TheYesidue of this work, for which the 
canal excavation furnisher an abundant supply of materials, has been per¬ 
mitted to await the introduction of water into the canal, that the stone may 
be transported by boats tracked by horses. Allowing twelve cents, a cubic 
yard, for transportation, hut reducing the height of the wall as has been found 
expedient, the cost of such an inner* lining for 2% feet, on each side of the canal, 
immediately below the surface of the water, which is found to be all that is 
necessary for its object, would be reduced to less than $1090 a mile.* 

For several miles together, the Chesapeake and Ohio canal has a border of 
solid rock on one side, which needs no- lining for its protection. In other 
places, it is spread 1 out to such breadth, by a single embankment on the side- 
next the river, that it needs no such lining along either slope. When com¬ 
pressed, as it is, for less than a single mile on a line of 48, within a breadth 
under 60 feet, it is always bounded by rock, which yields stone for its inner 

* The first inside slope wall, or pavement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, was 
made, by special contract, of stone, which the contractor found it more convenient, and was • 
permitted to leave in the bed of the canal, at the cost of 8 cents the square yard. The ma¬ 
sons engaged in the construction of this inside wall, which is the best on the line of the ca¬ 
nal, acknowledged that they made by it, their customary day’s wages. In this case, the pave¬ 
ment extended from the bottom of the slope to within two feet of the top of the embank- 
ment, on both sides of the canal. 

On section-14, by advice of a New York canal commissioner, the wall was constructed on a 
bench formed in the sloping embankment, about feet-below the top of the embankment 
and extended up the bank, with very little slope/to within two feet of the top. So that 
here the waflis 2$ feet high. This height of wall, the commissioner affirmed, from the expe¬ 
rience of the New York canal, was quite sufficient, and so it has been here found to guard 
the bank from, abrasion, either by high winds or the motion of the boats engaged in its liavi- 
gation. This wall was^ut up at 12£ cents the perch. In one mile of the canal, supposing 
both shores of it to be so protected, there would consequently be 1760 lineal yards X by 10 
feet = yards 34 X1760 = 536G yards, which, at 121- cents per'yard, would cost $7334 a mile 
At 8 cents, the square yard, this sum wouklbe less than $500 a mile: at 16, it would not reach 
$1000, as stated in the text.. 


[ Doc. No. 101 . 7 305 

pavement, free of the cost of transportation, so as to save a part of the above 
estimated expense. 

It is somewhat remarkable that the chief engineer of the Railroad Com¬ 
pany should add 5,000 dollars a mile to the cost of the canal, at the Point of 
Rocks, for its inner lining of stone, when he takes care to lodge it, as well as 
the railroad, on a bed of rocks, and provides, in an estimate, of the joint 
cost of the two works, fora partition wall of three feet thickness between them. 

“The residue of his comparison of railroads with canals, is equally impar¬ 
tial with the preceding, and obviously designed to withdraw the patronage 
of the State of Maryland from her canal, for it is hers unless she chooses to ex¬ 
pel it from her territory, to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The far greater 
part of his facts are inconsistent with each other; his assertions are without 
proof; and his principles have been refuted by experience, as we have seen. 

“What shall be thought of the judgment which, under the climate of Marv- 
land, and in relation to the Potomac, pronounces that, “from the combined ef¬ 
fects of floods, breaches, repairs, drought, and cold, the average duration of the 
navigation of a canal, inour climate , is reduced about one half of the year?” 

“The Chesapeake and Ohio canal was easily kept open for navigation, and 
actually navigated with facility, when frozen to the depth of very near 
three inches. In the late hard winter, its use was not suspended by ice till 
after the middle of January. 

“Does any man believe that the Potomac river will not supply an adequate 
quantity of water, in any drought, to feed a canal along its banks; or that in¬ 
ternal intercourse will be promoted, and “ transfers and transshipments, add¬ 
ing to the expense and risk of transportation, be prevented,” as this writer 
insinuates, by substituting a railroad fora canal, along the margin of a river 
which has already upon its stem and its branches above tide-water, a descend¬ 
ing navigation, practicable at some seasons, of 750 miles; or that a country will 
resort to railroads instead of canals, which has a coast, thus bordering naviga¬ 
ble water, for 1,500 miles, counting both shores of this river, and of its often 
navigable tributaries? 

“How well does it fit the occasion of his letter, to comprehend, among the 
advantages of railroads over canals, that the latter occupy the best lands of 
a country, when the very railroad, which this engineer is endeavoring to 
exalt in value above the Chesapeake and Ohio janal, is seeking to establish 
a right to pre-occupy the very ground along the Potomac, so often surveyed 
for the construction of the canal? Let railroads, which are admirable time 
and labor saving inventions, be constructed wherever the trade which they 
are designed to accommodate, will defray the cost of their construction and 
use, and they can either be rendered more beneficial than canals, or canals 
cannot be made.” 

Extracts from the report of Colonel John J Mert and Colonel James 
Kearney , of the United States' Topographical Engineers , upon an ex¬ 
amination of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal , from Washington City 
to the “ Point of Rocks;" made by order of the Secretary of War , at 
the request of the President and Directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal Company . 

“To Brig. Gen. Gratiot, Chief Engineer U. S. Jl. 

“ Sir: In obedience to your orders of the 11th of May, we have made the 
examination of those parts of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal which are 
39 


306 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

“ completed and under construction,” and have now the honor to report the 
result of our observations. 

“ The first part of the work which we visited, was the basin at George¬ 
town. This basin is formed by a dam thrown across the mouth of Rock 
creek, forming an extensive quay or landing place, one of its faces being on 
Rock creek, and the other on the Potomac river. The length of the quay 
on the Potomac face, is one thousand and eighty feet: two hundred feet of 
which is occupied by a tumbling dam, for the delivery of the surplus water 
of this creek, and thirty-eight feet occupied by the tide lock, leaving eight 
hundred and forty feet front on the Potomac river. Piles, each one foot in 
diameter, were driven throughout the whole extent of the river front, touch¬ 
ing each other, and then at every three feet of the interior, to a distance of 
twelve feet, until they refused a pile driver of eleven hundred pounds. The 
whole of these piles were then connected by heavy timbers, bolted to the 
head of each pile, and this frame work was then united by a course of hew T n 
timbers fitting close to each other, and five inches thick, and well secured to 
the frame and piles. On the front of this pile work, there is a well laid dry 
wall, twelve feet thick, and seven feet high, including the coping. Strong 
and frequent ties of timber firmly connected with the pile work, are extend¬ 
ed under the soil of the quay. Until these were fixed, a slight curving had 
been observed in a part of the wall, but, since that time, not the least indi¬ 
cation of yielding is perceptible, nor do we think there is any just ground of 
fear for the durability of this part of the work. It stood without injury the 
unusual freshet of the river of the last spring, on the breaking up of the ice. 

i( The width of the quay is one hundred and sixty feet, except at the 
city end, where it narrows to eighty feet. Sixty feet in width of the centre 
of this quay, is intended for warehouses and stores, and the rest of the 
space is to be left open for streets and landing places. 

“ A bridge is constructed over the head of the tumbling dam, connecting 
the Georgetown part with the city part of the quay. This bridge is of tim¬ 
ber, on piles—a simple, but substantial structure. 

“The inside of the quay forming the Rock creek face, is protected by a 
well laid dry wall, surmounted by a stout hewn timber coping, bound to its 
place by tie-timbers extending some distance into the soil. The whole of 
the space between these two fronts, is already filled up with earth. 

“ The walled face of the basin also extends upon both sides of Rock creek, 
to the second bridge, constituting an entire length of walling on the inside 
of the basin of five thousand five hundred feet, (about 300 feet of the wall is 
yet to be laid,) and enclosing an area of eight and one-quarter acres. 

(( But the real extent of this basin is much greater, as the water of this 
creek, when raised by the dam at the quay, will be deep and navigable up 
nearly to Patterson’s paper mill, and will extend over an area about twice 
as great as that included between the walls.” 

# “ The width of the canal up to Frederick street, (in Georgetown,) is forty- 
six feet, and its depth six; from this street it gradually widens to eighty 
feet, and increases in depth to seven, which it maintains through the re¬ 
maining part of this level up to lock No. 5.” “This level is continued 
from lock No. 4 to lock No. 5, near the Little falls, throughout a distance 
of about four miles.” 

“ Lock No. 5 is similar in its plan, dimensions, and materials, to those 
we have heretofore spoken of. It appears to have been faithfully built, and 
is very tight. The great dimensions of the canal, heretofore stated, termi- 


307 


f Doc. No. 101. J 


nate at this lock, beyond which the width, at the water surface, is sixty 
feet, and the depth six.” 

“ Lock No. 10 is built entirely of granite. It is a fine structure, extreme¬ 
ly tight, and has every appearance of durability. We take this opportuni¬ 
ty to remark, that all the locks previously noticed, were also tight. We 
saw no leaking or spouting from the walls; and we examined them immedi¬ 
ately after they were emptied, when such defects, if they exist, will always 
show themselves.” 

“Lock No. 21, is similar to those previously noticed, and has all the ap¬ 
pearance of faithful work; is tight, and exhibits no evidence of yielding.” 

“ This last lock (No. 20) has the general lift of the locks of this canal, 
of eighty feet, and completes the series necessary to surmount the elevation 
of the Great falls of the Potomac.” “ The line of the canal from the Little 
falls to, this lock was replete with difficult passes, which the engineer ap¬ 
pears to have attacked with boldness, and to have admirably surmounted.” 

“ The usual time employed in the passing of a lock by the packet-boat, is 
four minutes. A passage, however, may be readily effected in three mi¬ 
nutes and a half; and were informed that, in an experiment of several pas¬ 
sages, the average of the time occupied was but three minutes.” 

“ The culverts are of an admirable length, extending well and sufficiently 
through the embankments.” 

“ Over this river (Seneca) an aqueduct is constructing. It will consist of two 
piers and three arches. The sheeting, as well as the ring stone, are to be 
cut to the proper angle, and “laid in hydraulic mortar.” We believe that 
this structure will be both beautiful and enduring.” 

<c The aqueduct over the Monocacy is four hundred and thirty-eight feet 
long, from the face of one abutment to the face of the other, and the mason¬ 
ry of the abutments and wing-walls extends ninety-six feet farther. The 
whole work will consist of two abutments, six piers, and seven arches, to 
be fifty-four feet span, with a rise of nine feet. The two arches which rest 
against the abutments are conducted within the abutments by what is called 
a blind arch, down to the rock foundation. The masonry of the abutments 
and piers rests upon the solid rock which forms the bed of the river, and 
which had been previously cleared and prepared for the purpose. The piers 
and abutments are thirty-three feet four inches long, exclusive of the pilas¬ 
ters. The piers are ten feet wide above the water table, and fourteen feet 
wide, and thirty-eight feet long at the foundation, which last dimensions are 
preserved up to within one foot of the low water surface.” 

“ We visited the quarries. The stone lies high, and is of easy access; its 
color a dull white. It is of the kind usually called by workmen mountain 
granite, but by geologists it would be called gray wacke. It splits well, 
hammers without fracture, is fine grained, and, in our opinion, a very last¬ 
ing stone.” 

“The work was executing in good faith by the contractor, and was vigi¬ 
lantly watched and inspected by the engineer. We consider the plan judi¬ 
cious, as well as its execution, in which are united the true principles of 
economy, usefulness, and durability.” 

“ It may be proper to remark, that, in the whole length of the canal be¬ 
tween the aqueduct over Seneca, to that over the Monocacy, wherever the 
embankment touches in the river, it is carefully protected against its action 
by extended and well constructed walls of dry masonry. These walls, so 
frequently mentioned in our report, might, without explanation, be consider- 


308 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ed objects of extravagance; wc will, therefore, add, that the valley of the 
river occupied by this canal, is bounded, to a great extent, by high rocky 
cliffs, which, in many places, project into the water, leaving the engineer no 
other course than to blast his path through them, and to establish the foun¬ 
dation of his embankment in the river itself.” 

“The length of the canal between locks 21 and 22 is three miles. 
Throughout the greater part of this distance, the embankment on the river 
side is sustained by a beautiful and well built sloping stone wall of dry ma¬ 
sonry, resting upon a judiciously laid footing, and rising to the top of the 
embankment; the inside slope of which is rivetted also with a slope wall, 
laid from the bottom of the canal. There is one continued line of two 
miles of this walling, curving with the canal, in which we did not observe 
the slightest indication of yielding or of weeping in any part of it. In parts 
of this line, the rock excavation was very great, and the superfluous stone is 
judiciously placed outside of the walling, and in a manner to relieve it from 
the current of the river.” 

“A pit is excavated, and part of the foundation laid for another roadway, 
intended for the convenience of Conrad’s ferry. We cannot forbear here 
expressing our decided approbation of this method of crossing canal lines, 
over the more usual method by bridges.” 

“We observed a paved ford to accommodate the adjoining farms. This 
ford can be conveniently used when the water in the canal is aboutfour feet 
deep—when deeper, it is contemplated to use a large boat at this space; for 
which purpose docks are constructed on each side of the canal, that the boat 
may lie out of the canal line.” 

“ We are fully aware, that, after all we have said, we have not yet given 
an adequate idea of the great and interesting work we have been directed to 
examine. The difficulties which have been surmounted—the quantity of 
labor it has received—the vast amount of rock excavation—the extent and 
excellence of the walls of dry masonry—the durable aspect of all the struc¬ 
tures—the great and imposing dimensions of the canal—the judicious adap¬ 
tation of the excavations to the fillings and embankments—can be duly ap¬ 
preciated only by visiting the work. 

“The trade of the canal in the part now in use is very active; there is, 
however, a necessity for a system of regulations to govern the boatmen.” 

Extract from the report of the United States’ Board of Internal Im¬ 
provement, accompanying the President’s message to both Houses of 

Congress , of the 1th of December , 1826. 

“plan and estimate op the canal. 

“ The transverse section of the canal is exhibited on the sheet No. 3. The 
breadth at the bottom is 33 feet; at the surface, 48 feet; the depth of water, 
5 feet; the tow path, 9 feet wide; the guard banks, 5 feet at the top; the 
surf berms, kept on the level of water, 2 feet wide each; the tow path, and 
top of the guard bank, 2 feet above the surface of the canal. 

4 ‘ This transverse section is to be modified where local circumstances requirt 
-it, and more especially in the cases of deep cutting, steep side cutting, em¬ 
banking, and also where the canal is supported by walls. In the framing of 
the plan, a due attention has been paid to these modifications, with a view to 
conciliate the convenience of the work with the strictest economy. The 


309 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

depth of 5 feet has been preserved throughout the line, but the breadth has 
been often much lessened. As to the surf berms, they are intended to pro¬ 
tect the slopes from being washed off, as, also, to lessen the resistance opposed 
to the boat, by affording to the eddy water a free passage. 

“ We must submit, however, the reasons which led us to propose the above 
dimensions. 

“ The experiments made in 1775, by the French academicians, (D’Alem¬ 
bert, Condorcet, and Bossut,) have shown: 1 . That the resistance of wa¬ 
ter to the perpendicular motion of a given plane, may be regarded as pro¬ 
portional to the square of the velocity; 2 . That the velocity being the same, 
the resistance of water may be considered as proportional to the area of the 
plane; 3. That these results obtained only in the case of an indefinite ex¬ 
panse of water; 4. That, in narrow canals, the resistance increases in a 
more rapid ratio than the square of the velocity. 

“ To attenuate, as much as practicable, this inconvenience, researches have 
been made to ascertain what should be the ratio between the transverse sec¬ 
tion of the canal, and the transverse section of the boat, in order that the 
boat might move through such a canal as through an indefinite expanse of 
water. Experiments made on the subject by the celebrated Chevalier Du- 
buat have shown that, to attain this result, the cross section of the canal 
ought to be, with moderate velocities, 6.46 times across the section of the 
boat, and the water line 4 5 times the breadth of the boat. 

“ Adopting, to preserve uniformity, 13§ feet for the breadth of the boats 
used on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, (which is the breadth of the Erie 
canal and of the Ohio canal boats,) if we suppose the draft to be three feet, 
the prow to be rectangular, and the sides and bottom of the boat to conform 
to it, the cross section of the boat will be 40.5 square feet. Taking, now, 
this area 6.46 times, we find 26If square feet for the cross section of the 
canal, through which the boat would not meet with a greater resistance than 
through an indefinite expanse of water. The waterline should be 603 feet, 
that is, four times and a half the breadth of the boat. 

“ Were not expense to be taken into consideration, these dimensions might 
be recommended; but fitness of the work and strict economy must be re¬ 
conciled as much as practicable, and it is in such a view that smaller dimen¬ 
sions are to be fixed upon. 

“ It is to be remarked, that the distance from Georgetown to Pittsburg, in 
following the line of canal, is 3413 miles, which, at the rate of 2 5 miles per 
hour, will be travelled in about - - - - 136 hours 

The ascent and descent, amounting together to 3,15S feet, will 

require, at the rate of 1 minute per foot, about 52 

Distance, in time, from Georgetown to Pittsburg, - 18S hours. 

“ Though a number of canals, selected among those executed to this day, 
might afford together the distance and lockage found for the Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal, yet there is not, within our knowledge, any line of the same 
extent requiring even 1,800 feet of ascent and descent taken together: the 
Erie canal requires 688 feet for 362 miles; the line from Liverpool to Lon¬ 
don, 1,4513 feet for 264 miles; the canal from the Rhone to the Rhine, 
connecting Lyons with Strasburg, has about 1,458 feet of lockage for a length 
of 200 miles. The proposed canal has, therefore, as to time, a decided in¬ 
feriority, when compared to a canal of the same length, but having a less 
amount oflockage; and it becomes, in the present case, indispensable to reme- 



310 


f Doc. No. 101. ] 

dy this inconvenience. The means we propose consists in the increase of 
the dimensions of the cross section of the canal, with a view to compensate 
by a greater weight transported without additional power for the virtual 
increase of distance caused by so great an amount of lockage. 

“ We have shown that this section ought to be 261 square feet, with a water 
line of 60 feet, to procure a boat 13 feet 6 inches in breadth, the advantage 
of moving on the canal as on an indefinite extent of water. After many 
trials and minute calculations, we have concluded to adopt, for the contem¬ 
plated canal, the * of the foregoing results, viz. for the cross section, 203 
square feet, and for the water line 48 feet; and from these data we have 
framed, with a depth of five feet, the general transverse profile of the canal 
as exhibited on the sheet No. 3. 

“ Let us now compare this profile to one having 40 feet at the surface, 28 
feet at the bottom, and 4 feet in depth—the boat used being the same for both r 
and having 13$ feet in breadth, and 3 feet draft. 

“ We find, by calculations, that, the velocity remaining the same, the re¬ 
sistance to the boat moving in the 48 feet canal, is to the resistance to the 
same boat moving in the 40 feet canal, as 1.21 to 1.58, or as 100 to 130. 
Therefore, at the same rate of velocity, 100 horses will, on the 48 feet canal, 
perform the same work as 130 horses on the 40 feet canal; and, with the 
same towing power, the weight transported on the 48 feet canal will be to 
the weight transported on the 40 feet canal as 130 to 100. 

“ But the depth of the 48 feet canal being one foot greater than the depth 
of the other, let us examine what would be the comparative resisitance of the 
boat being immersed 4 feet into the 48 feet canal, and but 3 feet into the 
other. We find, in this case, the ratio to be 1.47 to 1.58, or 100 to 107, 
and we infer from it that, with a gain of about seven per cent, of towing 
power, the weight transported on the 48 feet canal will be one-third greater 
than the weight transported, during the same time, on the 40 feet canal. 

“The foregoing considerations show, that, in determining the transverse 
section of a canal of great length, and with a dividing summit level, the 
amount of lockage must have a due influence upon the breadth and depth of 
the water section. And, indeed, taking into view the great distance and 
considerable lockage belonging to the present case, a cross section larger 
than that recommended might have been suggested, had not a regard to 
economy, and to a competent supply of water during the dry season, for¬ 
bidden it. 

“ However, the transverse section, as just proposed, may be deemed suf¬ 
ficient to fulfil, in a satisfactory manner, the main requisite for which it has 
been intended. And, in order to remove all doubt, let us compare, as to 
amount of transportation, the contemplated Chesapeake and Ohio canal with 
another of the same length, but whose lockage would be 600 feet only, with 
a transverse section of 40 feet at the surface, and 4 feet in depth. 

“The rate of travelling being supposed, for both, 2$ miles per hour, and 
one minute allowed for each foot of lockage, 60 feet will be, as to time, 
equivalent to 2$ miles; and these canals will then compare as follows: 

“The Chesapeake and Ohio canal, having 3,158 feet of lockage in a dis¬ 
tance of 3412 miles, is equivalent, as to time, to a single level canal of 473 
miles, which would require 189 hours to be travelled from one end to the 
other. 

The 40 feet canal, having 600 feet of lockage in a distance of 3411 miles, 
is equivalent, as to time, to a single level canal of 367 miles, and which 


311 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

'would be travelled in 146 hours, from one end to the other. But it has been 
shown, that, on the first canal, the amount of transportation being expressed 
by 130, it will be 100 on the 40 feet canal—the velocity and towing power 
remaining the same in both cases. Comparing, now, this ratio of 130 to 
100 with that of the times employed to travel, respectively, each canal, viz. 
189 hours to 146, it is found that these ratios are equal. Therefore, on 
either of these canals, and notwithstanding a difference of 2,558 feet lockage, 
an equal weight will be transported during the same time, and with an equal 
towing power; a result entirely due to a larger transverse section having 
been assigned to the canal whose lockage is greater.” 

“ After the enlarged dimensions of sixty feet by six feet for the volume 
of water in the canal, were recommended to the Committee of the House of 
Representatives on Roads and Canals, by the chairman, he addressed a letter 
of inquiry to Gen. Bernard, on the comparative resistance of the motion of 
a boat of given structure and burthen on such a canal, and one of the dimen¬ 
sions recommended by the board over which that officer presided. The 
annexed letter contains his answer to this inquiry: 

“Letter from Gen . Bernard to Hon. C. F. Mercer. 

Washington City, February 17, 1S27. 

“ Sir: I have the honor to forward to you the result of the calculation 
you asked for, in relation to a canal 60 feet wide at the water line, 45 at the 
bottom, and 5 feet deep. 

“The cross section of the boat remaining as assumed in the report on the 
Chesapeake and Ohio canal, such a boat would, for the reason set forth in 
this report, move, at moderate velocities, on 60 feet canal, as on an indefinite 
extent of water. 

“ The resistance proved, in this case, by the boat, being expressed by 1, 
the number 1.21 will represent the relative resistance in a 48 feet canal, 
and 1.58 that in a 40 feet canal. Thus, with a towing power of 100 horses, 
the same work will be performed on the 60 feet canal as with 121 horses 
on the 4S feet canal, and 15S on the 40 feet canal—these two latter canals 
being here supposed to retain the respective cross sections assigned to them 
in the aforesaid report. 

“ Now, assigning to these two canals the same comparative length and 
amount of lockage as alluded to in the report, they become on the same 
footing as to towing power, but the sixty feet canal has the same length and 
amount of lockage as the 4S feet canal: therefore, it will have an advantage 
of 21 or 18 per cent, over the latter, as to towing power, and the same 
advantage over the 40 feet canal. In other words, 18 per cent, more 
weight would be transported during the same time, and with the same toW- 
ing power, on the 60 feet canal, than on the two others. 

1 have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

BERNARD, Brig. Gen. 

To the Hon. C. F. Mercer, M. C., Washington City . 


Extract from the first annual report of the President and Directors 
of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. 

“The enlargement and elevation of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, from 
the lowest dam and feeder to the entrance of the streets of Georgetown, have 
been prompted by a due respect for the well known object of the express con¬ 
dition attached to the United States’ subscription of a million of dollars, added 



312 


[ Doc. No. 101. 3 

to the desire on the part of this board, sanctioned by the voice of the stock¬ 
holders, of promoting the application of water power to domestic manufac¬ 
tures, at the very advantageous sites afforded, immediately above, as well as 
near, the termination of the canal. 

“ It is well understood that this cannot be effected without some injury to 
the navigation of the canal, for the whole, or a part of that distance, and it 
should not be encountered without an equivalent benefit to the company, 
and to the community. 

“ Should the pretensions of certain individual claimants, holding lands on 
both sides of the Potomac, to the exclusive use, for manufacturing purposes, 
of the water of this river, the highway, but recently, of two sovereign States, 
be not sustained, the profit to be derived to the companj', from the proposed 
application of part of the water of the much enlarged canal, will amply repay 
the cost of its enlargement, while the public, as well as the stockholders, 
will be compensated for some delay in their ascent of this short portion of 
the canal, by the rapid growth of their common market. The company 
cannot be a loser, though the construction given by these claimants to the 
charter of the late Potomac Company be confirmed, by the judicial inter¬ 
pretation which they have sought of its true import, and of its subsequent 
modification by the charter of this company. 

“ Still, it remains, in the judgment of the board, a question to be deter¬ 
mined hereafter, whether the enlargement of the dimensions of the canal, 
beyond fifty feet, shall be extended above the mouth of the Shenandoah, and 
through its ascent to Cumberland. 

‘‘Asfar, at least, as the former point, a prudent regard to the competition 
which this commercial avenue has to encounter, not only for the trade of 
the west, but of its own tributaries, the valleys of the Potomac, and of its 
navigable branches, required that the board should avail themselves of all 
the aid which science could supply to fix this commerce in its natural channel. 

“ The acquisition of at least sixty per cent, to the facility of transportation, 
upon the broader and deeper channel provided for the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal, is believed to be worth more than an advance of twenty per cent, upon 
thc'cost of its construction. * 

“In the same spirit which has given these enlarged dimensions to the plan 
of the canal, the board have diligently and laboriously sought, by negotia¬ 
tion and argument, as well as by appeals to legislative authority, to preserve 
the entire line of canal, above Georgetown, free from the dangerous, incon¬ 
venient, and costly obstruction of permanent bridges. They have invoked 
the interest as well as the patriotism of individuals, and the wisdom and 
policy of juries and legislatures. The appeal to the last has been in but one 
case availing; but they have been able to suspend the erection of any bridges 
for the present; and still seek, by the purchase of small tracts of land, lying 
between the canal and the river shore, to diminish the number of persons in¬ 
terested in opposing their wishes. Until a modification can be had of the 

* “By an early order of the President and Directors, it was determined to verify, by ex¬ 
periment, the relative advantages afforded to navigation in boats of given dimensions, by 
large and small canals. For this purpose, troughs were made, each 30 feet in length, de¬ 
signed, by then- relative capacity, to illustrate the proportions of the New York and Ohio 
canals to the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 

“ Although the result of these experiments demonstrated the very great superiority of the 
larger over the smaller canal, so many defects were apparent in the manner of arriving at 
the results, that the board determined to ascertain, by the actual construction of a small part 
of the canal, the exact difference of the resistance offered to the passage of a boat of given 
dimensions and cargo, on these canals..”' 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 313 

charter of the company, conveyances for such parcels of land are proposed 
to be taken to trustees, for their future use. 

“ ^he entire quantity of land, from the District of Columbia to the Kitoc- 
tin mountain, lying between that required for the canal, and the river, was 
long since found, by actual survey, not to exceed 1,300 acres, of which, 
more than 500 are reported to be inarable. This land is not in one body, 
but in narrow sjips, the property of numerous proprietors; and the erection 
and maintenance of permanent bridges for the accommodation of each, would, 
apart from obstructing the navigation of the canal, cost more than the land 
itself is worth, at any fair estimate of its value. From the Monocacy to the. 
Point of Rocks, along the far better part of this country, the quantity of land, 
exclusive of the precipitous banks of the river, cut off from the main by the 
canal, does not comprehend fifty acres; for five miles, it does not exceed six 
acres; the canal having been generally, always where practicable, conducted 
along the margin of the river, as well to avoid interruptions, as for the 
sake of better ground, and a more ready access to the canal, itself, from the 
opposite shore of Virginia. Although much more deeply interested in pro¬ 
curing a ready passage across the canal than her neighbor, whose territory 
it immediately borders, this State.has readily assented, where the company 
may deem it expedient, to the substitution of ferries, for bridges over the ca¬ 
nal. Between Harper’s Ferry and Georgetown, but few public highways 
at all interfere with such a provision. One of these may be provided for by 
a very elevated bridge, another by a pivot bridge over a lock immediately 
crossing it; and, in some cases, ferries, attended with no danger and very 
httle delay, may he resorted to, with the approbation of the local authority 
charged with this branch of the public police.* 

Ci Should the confident hope, inspired by intelligence recently received 
from the canals of Europe, as well as of the United States, be confirmed, and 
it be found practicable to substitute, on this canal, the application of steam for 
animal labor, as its .propelling power, its enlarged and unobstructed surface 
will favor, alike, economy of transportation and the comfort of the travel¬ 
ler: and render that, which is obviously the shortest, also the cheapest 
and the most agreeable channel of intercourse between the eastern and 
western States. Boats of elevated cabins and double decks, propelled by 
steam, will countervail, by a velocity of seven or eight miles an hour, the, 
transient suspension of their motion by the locks; and by supplying the, 
wants of every description of passengers, will afford, at the same time, cheap 
accommodation to the needy, and multiplied enjoyments to the rich. By 
such means will this improved channel of internal commerce, national in its 
end, as it is, in part, in the resources provided for its accomplishment, con¬ 
firm the union of the States, without an undue increase of the power of their 
common Government. And if, in the prosecution of such an object, some 
expense may seem to have been encountered which parsimony might have 
denied, the patriotism from which this enterprise sprung, and on which, it 
must continue to rest, will not, it is presumed, reject the powerful appeal 
which an enlarged economy, in conducting such a work, addresses to the Le¬ 
gislatures of the Federal Government, and of the States who share the cost 
of its prosecution with public spirited individuals. To these individuals 
themselves, the argument in favor of the plan adopted by the board is, as 
simple as it is intelligible, that a more costly canal, with an active navigation, 

* It has been decided, by a Judge of the Court of Appeals in Maryland, that the company 
cannot be compelled to erect bridge* across fhe ctcnal. 

10 


*314 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

will yield a better dividend, than one of cheaper dimensions without any 
commerce whatever. ” 

Extracts from the reports by Messrs. Roberts and Cruger , of the exam¬ 
ination , survey , and estimate of the western section of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio canal; and from the first report of the United States 7 En¬ 
gineers, of the examination and location of that section in 1824. 

Georgetown, Sept. 2, 1829. 

To the President of the Board of Directors of the Ches. and O. Canal Comf y: 

Sir: The summit level of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, embracing the 
tunnel through the Alleghany ridge, the deep cuttings, and the basins at each 
end,, and the feeder from the Casselman river, are the subjects of this com¬ 
munication. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

NATHAN S. ROBERTS, 
Engineer of the second division C. and 0. Canal 

The Alleghany ndge, through which the tunnel is to be cut, is supposed 
t'o be sandstone, with a mixture of slate: this opinion being formed from the 
quality of the rocks which appear on the surface, and in cliffs in the sides of 
the mountain at various heights. And, in corroboration of this opinion, it 
is proper to state, that the same qualities of stone present themselves both 
above and below the level of the tunnel, along the line of the canal, in de¬ 
tached boulders and large masses, variously disposed in the bed and on the 
margin of the rivers, and in the debris or line broken stone, which in many 
places cover the steep sides of the mountain; and, proceeding west, the re¬ 
gular layers and horizontal cliffs and ledges of sandstone, appear in all the’ 
steep hills and mountains through which the channel seems to have been 
worn down by the Casselman and the Yougheogany, till they have united 
and passed through Laurel hill. And the same quality of sandstone, with 
veins of slate, appears in horizontal strata above the coal veins, in the high 
hills in the vicinity of the Monongahela and Pittsburg, and in the coal dis¬ 
trict near Cumberland. Frostburg and Westernport sandstone is found in 
the same situations. In a few places these stone are of the millstone grit, 
and wrought for that purpose. This was observed on the national road, and 
about twelve miles down the valley of Wills’ creek; but, in general, they 
are a soft sandstone, suitable for locks and all other purposes where cut stone 
work is necessary. 

The elevation of the tunnel or summit level is 1972 feet above low tides 
at Georgetown, and 1273 feet above low water in the Ohio at Pittsburg; and 
the difference shows that the Ohio river at low water at Pittsburg is 699 feet 
above common low tides at Georgetown. 

The length of the summit level consists of the tunnel of 4 miles, to be ex¬ 
cavated through the Alleghany ridge, and, at each end of the tunnel, a deep 
cut and a basin are extended, and terminated by a lock. 

The length of the deep cutting and the basin at the eastern end is 40 
chains, and the length of the deep cutting and basin at the west end is 1 mile, 
making the whole length of the summit level, from lock lo lock, 5 miles 
and 40 chains. 

The dimensions of a transverse section of the interior of the tunnel, and 
upon which the following calculations are presented, are. shown in the an¬ 
nexed diagram, and are as follows, viz. 


315 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The water for the passage of boats through said tunnel is to be 6 feet deep 
and 17 feet wide. The towing path to be 7 feet high (rising one foot above 
water) and 5 feet wide. The width of the tunnel above the towing path 
will be 22 feet, and the height 7 feet to the spring of the arch, which is sup- 
posed to be equal to a semicirle of 11 feet radius. On each side of the bot¬ 
tom of the tunnel, a drain is to be sunk in the rock, below the bottom of the 
canal, equal to a cut of two feet square, with a descent of 3 feet in the dis¬ 
tance from the centre to each end of the tunnel. A section of the tunnel, 
according to these dimensions, is equal to 52§ superficial yards; and the 
solid contents, in 4 miles, will be equal to 368,428 cubic yards. 

In the prosecution of this work, it is calculated that 120 men, divided into 
relays of 30 men each, may be advantageously employed at blasting and 
quarrying at each end of the tunnel: one company to perform 12 hours, and 
then be relieved by another company, to labor for an equal length of time, 
and thus proceed through the 24 hours, making, in.the result, a force equal 
to 120 men laboring for 12 hours in each day. And it is computed that, 
taking a portion of the heading, the side trimmings, and the drain, together 
with the blasting and quarrying from the breast or body of the tunnel, a good 
hand will not average less than l of a cubic yard for each day’s work. At 
this rate, 120 men will blast and quarry 90 cubic yards per day. 

The tunnel, as above stated, contains 368,428 cubic yards; this quantity, 
divided by the amount of one day’s work, gives 4,094 days, and, allowing 
300 days for labor in each year, the time required to complete the excavation 
of the tunnel will be 13 years and 194 days. 

The wages, subsistence, and apparatus, furnished and kept in repair, for 
each man per day, for blasting and quarrying in the tunnel, is computed, as 


follows: n 

Wages per day, on an average - - - - - 451 00 

Board and other necessaries of subsistence per day - - 50 

Gunpowder, all necessary tools, and light, per day - - 75 

Making the average expense of a day’s work of one man - $2 25 


Then, a day’s work of 120 men, at the above rate, will be $270; and the 
amount of rock quarried., in the same time, being 90 cubic yards, the average 
cost will be $3 per cubic yard. 

The expense of transporting the excavated materials out of the tunnel, is 
computed as follows: a railroad with two sets of tracks is to be laid on and 
bolted to the bottom of the tunnel, as the work progresses, and to extend past 
the deep cutting and basin at each end of the tunnel, for the purpose of con¬ 
veying the materials to a place of deposite and distribution. The expense of 
a double railroad, equal to the whole length of the tunnel, and half a mile at 
each end, for the above purposes, is estimated as follows, viz. 

5 miles of double tracks will require 105,600 feet of timber, 8 
by 12 inches square, and from 20 to 40 feet long, for side rails, 
delivered at 8 cents per foot ! - - - - $8,448’ 

10,560 inch bolts, 16 inches long, equal to 23 tons, at 150 dollars 3,450 
105,600 feet of rolled iron plates, l| inches wide and fths of an 

inch thick, equal to 106 tons, at $130 per ton - - 13,780 

1 ton of spikes - - - - - - 200 

Fitting down and bolting the side rails to the rock, and spiking 
on the plates on the inner edge of each set of tracks, in a work¬ 
manlike manner, and completing the same fit for use, (the 
bolts being ready made, and the plates punched at the above 





316 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

prices,) 6,400 rods of the road, laid as above stated, at 50 cents 
a r od ------- 3,200 


Making the whole expense of the railroad - - - $29,070 

The materials excavated from the tunnel are to be transported on this rail¬ 
road, being laid for the purpose, from each end towards the centre, as the 
excavation of the tunnel progresses. 

The load which a horse will draw on such a railroad, and moving at the 
rate of 2 h miles per hour, is stated variously by different authors, and varies 
from S to ll'tons. But, in these calculations, 1 ton only is estimated for 
each load, on an average, to be drawn by one horse. The day’s work of a 
man and team is computed at ten hours each day, moving at the rate of 2$ 
miles per hour, including the time of loading and unloading—making 25 
miles for every period of 12 hours. 

The cost of a day’s work of a man and team is estimated at - $2 00 
One assistant loader to each wagon, to have the loads ready, &c. 1 00 

Making the cost of 1 team and 1 loader, per day, equal to - $3 00 

Supposing the materials to be taken from the tunnel to be sand rock and 
slate, the comparative weight or specific gravity of which is estimated at 2.8, 
then the weight of the contents of the tunnel to be transported, will be equal 
to 388,576 tons, to be taken out at each end of the tunnel, at 1 ton per load, 
or 777,152 tons in the whole 4 miles. 

The distance to be travelled out and in at each end of the tunnel is thus 
stated: at the commencement the distance would be, on an average, 40 chains 
out and 40 chains back; and, at the centre of the tunnel, the distance would 
be 2 miles and 40 chains out, and the same distance back, and the number 
of times the average ef these distances is to be travelled, is equal to the 
number of tons to be taken out at each end of the tunnel—thus stated: 
404-404-200 + 200 x 3S8,576~S0= 1,165,720 miles to be travelled out and 


2 

in, from each end of the tunnel. This sum, divided by 25, the estimated 
length of a day’s travel, gives 46,629.12 days’ travel fo; one team at 
each end of the tunnel. But the transportation is to be done in the same 
time with the excavation; then, 46.629. 12x2 

--——22.8 teams per day, in the 

4,094 

whole, or 11.4 teams per day at each end of the tunnel, to keep even with 
the excavation. 

As the height of the mountain over the line of the tunnel would render 
vertical shafts very expensive, it is proposed that, when the excavation of 
the tunnel has advanced about half a mile at each end, or, perhaps sooner, 
to ventilate the tunnel by means of a steam engine, of about ten horsepower, 
to be stationed, one at each end of the tunnel, with the necessary apparatus, to 
operate upon one or more cast iron blast cylinders, to be attached to a 
wooden trunk of the capacity of one foot square, and made of two inch plank, 
well matched, pitched, and banded with iron, so as to be perfectly air tight, 
and properly placed and secured on the towing path of the tunnel, and to 
be extended by additions, from time to time, as may be required. Through 
this tube, a sufficient quantity of air is to be forced, by the above apparatus, 
to ventilate the tunnel to its centre. 







[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


317 


By a statement received from Mr. John Anthers, steam engine 
manufacturer at Pittsburg, the cost of a first rate steam engine 
at that place, of 10 horse power, is - . _ $1,200 

One large air cylinder and apparatus - - - . 500 

Transporting the same to the tunnel, and putting the whole in good 

order fit for use - 3 qq 

A wooden trunk of the description above stated, and bring extended 
by degrees to the centre of the tunnel, 10,560 feet, at 50 cents a 

foot ' " '• ^ ..... 5,2SC? 

the expense of fuel, Mr Anthers states, for 24 hours, is “25 
bushels of coal,” estimated at 8 cents, or “2 cords of good wood,” 
estimated at $1, - - - - - 2 00 

Cost of attendant and keeping in repair - - 2 50 

Making the whole cost for 24 hours - - $4 50 

This expense would be necessary about 10 years, then 10 + 300= 

3,000 days, at $4 50 per day - 13,500 

Add for contingencies, 20 per cent. - 4,220 

Making the whole cost of ventilating one end of the tunnel, for 

the required time, amount to $25,000 


Mr. Anthers states further, that such an engine, with but very little re¬ 
pairing, will last 10 years in constant use. 

It is proper to observe that bituminous coal, of the best quality, can be 
obtained within 5 or 6 miles of the west end of the tunnel, and that timber 
for fuel abounds more at the east end, where coal is not to be expected so 
cheap; but perhaps it can be obtained at the above estimated price, or found 
in excavating the tunnel. 

Whether the tunnel, or any part of the interior, will require a lining of 
masonry, is uncertain. If the excavation should be sound rock in regular 
strata, no lining will be necessary, except, perhaps, at the ends, to give a 
finish, and prevent the earth from falling into the mouth of the tunnel. 
The cost of lining, more or less, is not included; and it is proper to observe, 
that, where a lining becomes necessary, the section of excavation should be 
so enlarged as to preserve the same dimensions within the lining as are herein 
expressed. 

From the foregoing calculation and analysis of prices, the estimated cost 
of the tunnel will stand as follows, viz. 

Excavating 368,428 cubic yards of rock, at $3 - $1,105,284 

Railroad, with double tracks, 5 miles - 29,070 

Transporting the contents of the tunnel, viz. 22 8 teams, with 
one teamster and one loader to each team, for 4,094 days, 
making 93,343 days, at $3 - - - - 280,029 

Ventilating the tunnel, viz. 2 steam engines of 10 horse power, 
one at each end of the tunnel, with the necessary apparatus for 
ventilating, including the expense of fuel, attendant, and re¬ 
pairs, for 10 years, at $25,000 each --- - 50,000 

Add for contingencies 10 per cent. - 146,438 


Making the estimated cost of excavation, transportation, and ven¬ 
tilating the tunnel, amount to - - - '$1,610,821 







318 


[ Doc. No. 101. ‘j 

$1,610,821 

Which is equal to-or $4 37-^ per cubic yard tor the whole 

yds. 368,428 

quantity of materials required to be taken out of the tunnel, according to the 
dimensions above stated. 

The deep cutting and basin at the east end of the tunnel, is 40 chains in 
length; the expense of constructing the same is as follows, viz. 

Grubbing and cleaning for canal and basin - $1,000 

Common excavation, 44,600 yds. at 20 cts., to be laid in the 

lining for the basin - - - - S,920 

Rock excavation, 15,800 yds. at $1 - 15,800 

« 25,720 

Add for contingencies 10 per cent. - - - . - 2,572 

$28,292 


The deep cutting and basin at the west end of the tunnel, occupy 1 mile: 


the expense of constructing the same is as follows: 

Grubbing and clearing, preparatory - $500 

Common excavation, 56,320 yds., at 20 cts., to be laid in embank¬ 
ment to form the basin 11,264 

Common excavation 74,S00 cubic yds. at 15 cts. - - 11,220 

Rock excavation, 44,000 cubic yds., at $1 - - ■ 44,000 


. 66,984 

Add for contingencies 10 per cent . -'■»»- 6,698 


$73,682 


The dimensions of the deep cuttings for the canal from each end of the 
tunnel, are 30 feet at bottom of the canal, and the sides perpendicular through 
the rock cutting, with the usual slope of 3 to 2 given io the earth excavation. 
The basins will be formed by occupying the valley at each end of the tun¬ 
nel, where the same is below bottom, for depositing the materials taken from 
the tunnel in the form of an embankment; and lining the same with the 
excavated'earth, to render the banks and bottom of each impervious to wa¬ 
ter. Each basin is to be formed with a waste-vvier and a lock at the extremi¬ 
ty. The distance between these locks is 5 miles and 40 chains, including 
the basins, the deep cutting, and the tunnel, which compose the length of the 
summit level. ”— Rep. oj Robe?'ts and Cruger. 

In the able report of the United States’ engineers, on the plan and cost 
of constructing the contemplated tunnel through the Alleghany, they pro¬ 
posed to expedite the progress of the work, and to cheapen its expense, by 
sinking over the tunnel forty-eight working shafts. By each of these, two 
additional surfaces to operate upon, would be presented to the laborers engag¬ 
ed in the tunnel, who work day and night without any interruption, except 
while elevating them to the surface of the mountain and letting them down ? 
to renew their operations at regular intervals. These would, of course, be 
so ordered, as to allow ample time for refreshment and recreation to the 
laborer. 

A steam engine of ten horse power, costing about $1,200, and placed near 
the summit of each working shaft, would raise, and transport out of the way* 













[ Doc. No. 101. ] 319 

the excavated materials, whether of rock or earth, as fast as the laborers 
could remove them, within the tunnel, to the bottom of the shaft 

As to the mode of elevating these materials, none would, perhaps, better 
answer, than an application of the principle, by which the wheat is elevated in 
a manufacturing flour mill. The empty buckets, on one side of an endless 
chain of large square links, would balance those on the opposite side, at eve- 
ry stage of the revolution of the drum or cylinder, over which the chain re¬ 
volves; so that the weight to be elevated would be that only of the excavat¬ 
ed materials from within the tunnel. 

The cost of all the working shafts recommended by the United States' 
Board of Internal Improvement, is less than $300,000. If reduced in num¬ 
ber, to four only, for each mile, their cost would be reduced in like pro¬ 
portion, so as not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars; while the oppor¬ 
tunity, thus afforded, of applying sixteen times the number of hands, which 
could be worked on the two extremes of the tunnel, would proportionably 
expedite its completion. Instead, therefore, of consuming thirteen years, 
with such facilities, the same work would be accomplished in less than a 
fourth of that period. 

Tunnels on railroads, as well as canals, are now so numerous in England, 
that estimates can be as accurately formed of the money and time required 
for their construction, as for the cost of any other part of a railroad or canal. 

On the canals, alone, of that country, there were, in 1824, near forty tun¬ 
nels, varying in breadth from nine to twenty one feet; in length, from 70 to 
4,840 yards; their aggregate extent being 62,291 yards exclusive of those* 
numerous subterranean canals for coal boats, of which, on a single canal of 
the Duke of Bridgewater, there are branches of the extent of eighteen miles 
on various levels; some sixty yards below the main canal; others thirty-five 
and a half above it; the greater part of them all being hewed out of solid 
rock. 

The driving of the tunnel through Harecastle hill, on the Trent and 
Mersey canal, the first canal tunnel constructed in England, cost, in 1776, 
£3 10^. 6d. sterling, per yard run. On this single eanal, in length 93 miles, 
with a lockage of 642 feet, there are as many as five tunnels, one mile ot 
the longest of them, which is 2,888 yards in extent, was completed in a 
single year, though thtf patural surface of the eaTth was 210 feet above the 
tunnel. 

Messrs. Roberts and Cruger estimate the entire cost cf the proposed tun¬ 
nel through the Alleghany, at 1,610,821 dollars. To reach this sum, they 
compute the wages and board of the hands engaged in the excavation, at 
$1 50 cts. each per day, after allowing 75 cts. more for his gunpowder, tools, 
and light: the price of a cart, horse, driver, and assistant, working on a 
railway, and drawing less than half a cubic yard of the excavated materials 
at a load, at $3 a day. It is not hazarding much to pronounce these al¬ 
lowances at least one-third too high. Carts are never hired on the Chesa¬ 
peake and Ohio canal, at more than $1 25 cts. per day, the driver being 
himself found, but finding his own horse; and 80 cents per day is believed 
to be an adequate allowance for the wages of each hand, including his board. 
The subterranean character of the work would prevent the reduction of 
the working days of the month, by changes of weather, and still farther 
cheapen the operation. Still, as the breadth calculated for the tunnel, in 
this estimate, is about 17 feet less than the greatest utility of the work would 
require, after deducting the third of the computed cost of the excavation 


320 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

and transportation of materials, or 450,000 dollars for the above reason, 
and the cost of ventdating the tunnel, in consequence of the introduction of 
the perpendicular working shafts over it; being, in all, half a million of 
dollars, so as to reduce the cost of the tunnel described by the above engi¬ 
neers, exclusive of contingencies, to less than one million; the residue may 
be doubled on account of its increased breadth, and the sinking of the shafts; 
and the cost of the tunnel put down at 2,200,000 dollars, including all con¬ 
tingencies.* 

The ratio of the solid contents of the enlarged, to the solid contents of the 
smaller tunnel, it is admitted, would not be in the direct proportion of their 
relative breadth; but the increased facility.of working in an enlarged space, 
and the reduction of the cost of transportation, effected by the application of 
the working shafts, would make this estimate sufficiently great to cover the 
total expensQi of a tunnel, within which the canal boats might readily pass 
each other in opposite directions. 

This estimate supposes the tunnel to be conducted through solid rock; and 
an inner arch of brick or stone to sustain the crown of it, to be unnecessary. 
Should its passage be through earth, requiring artificial support, the cost of 
this should be added, but the expense of excavation be reduced, since this 
necessity supposes the excavation not to be of rock. 



Comparative cost of the various works on the western and eastern sections 
of the State canal uf Pennsylvania. 

The river Alleghany, uniting with the Monongahela, after having received 
the Yougheogany 12 miles above Pittsburg, forms the Ohio, at that city, 
proposed termination of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 

A canal, from Pittsburg, up the Alleghany, Kiskiminetas, and Conemaugh 
rivers, to Johnstown, 104 miles in length, has already been constructed. 
The country along the lifie of this canal, and that along the Monongahela and 
Yougheogany rivers, up which, the western section of the Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal is to be extended, is, in truth, the same. The cost, therefore, of 
the works on the canal, already finished, may be assumed to be the measure 
of the cost of the other: and, for this reason, it is deemed expedient to in¬ 
sert the following extract from a communication of Abner Lacock, esq. dated 
December 15, 1827, to the board of Canal Commissioners of Pennsylvania. 

4 ‘By the voluminous reports of the engineers, the board will learn what 
has been accomplished, and what remains to be done, on this division pf the 
Pennsylvania canal, of which the following is a brief extract: 

There has been, of excavation of earth - - yards, 1,522,436 

Do do do rock - 350,83 \ 

Embankment made - - - - - 692,718 

Stone wall for protection - - - perches, 22,390 

Mason work in locks, aqueducts, culverts, and bridges 32,307 

It must be evident that the principal expense of a lock and canal naviga¬ 
tion will arise from, and be applicable to, the work comprehended under the 
foregoing heads, taken conjointly; and to settle a question that has been made 
a subject of dispute, an exact average has been made of the actual cost 
on each branch of the work upon this line, and the following result has been 
obtained : 

* A. stove pipe continued from the top to the bottom of each shaft, with a small furnace erect . 
ed over its summit, would ventilate the shaft effectually. 


Average price 


[ Doc. No. 

of earth, per cubic yard 

101 . ] 


321 

D. C. M. 

00 07 1 

rock, do 



00 39 7 

embankment 

- 

_ 

00 10 2 

wall, per perch 

• — 

- 

00 52 5 

road and farm bridges 

- 

. 

145 00 0 

fencing canal, by the perch, with posts and 
boards .... 

00 75 0 

locks, per foot lift, complete 

- 

57S 50 0 


The contract prices (undoubtedly less than the actual cost) of the like 
work on the eastern section of the Pennsylvania canal, running through a 
country much resembling the valley of the Potomac, to which it is parallel, 
will be seen in the subjoined synopsis, by Mr. James Clarke, superintendent 
of the Juniata division of that canal, submitted to the Board of Commission¬ 
ers, of which he was a member, cotemporaneously with the preceding re¬ 
port of General Abner Lacock. 


A TABLE 

EXHIBITING the average prices at which the various kinds of work were taken , 
at the several lettings , on the Juniata division of the Pennsylvania Canal. 




U 

.O 

AVERAGE RATE AT WHICH THE WORK WAS GIVEN OUT. 

Date of 
the 

lettings. 

« 

a 

o 

o 

V 

CO 

Cm 

o 

C/1 

35 . 

E 1 

Exca¬ 

vation. 

Em¬ 
bank¬ 
ment . 

Pud¬ 

dling. 

Solid 

rock. 

Slate 

rock. 

Hard- 

pan. 

Verti¬ 

cal 

wall. 

Out¬ 

side 

slope 

wall. 

Inside 

slope 

wall. 

-a 

c 

1 § 


6 

£ 

6 

£ 


Cents per cubic yard. 


Cents pr perch 
of 25 cub.ft. 

Cts. pr. 
sq. yd. 

3 75 
6 

1827 

Aug. 15 

35 

724 

9 

13$ 

18J 

42$ 

24$ 

19 

39 

49 

« 

13 

$170 

29 

28 

652 

8$ 

12$ 

16$ 

42$ 

22$ 

17$ 

42$ 

45$ 

12$ 

76 

Sept. 12 

28 

562 

Sf 

13 

15$ 

43$ 

23$ 

17$ 

45 

50$ 

12$ 

160 

Aver, of 91 sections 

8$ 

13 

16$ 

42$ 

23$ 

18 

42$ 

48$ 

12f 

135$ 


Conclusion of the appendix to the memorial of the Chesapeake and 
Ohio Canal Company. 

From the faets and reasoning in the preceding part of this appendix, which 
has been unavoidably swelled to a voluminous size, the following deductions 
must be apparent: 

1st. That the actual cost of any canal or railroad must depend on the plan 
adopted for each work, and the character of the ground over which it is con¬ 
ducted, both as to the quality of its soil or excavated materials, and the re¬ 
gularity, or inclination of its surface. 

41 
































322 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

2d. That the prime cost of the best constructed railroad, of two tracks 
only, passing over the most favorable ground, must ever greatly exceed the 
prime cost of the best constructed canal, of ordinary dimensions, passing 
over ground equally favorable for this species of improvement. 

3d. That the best constructed railroads, of two tracks, in Europe or Ame¬ 
rica, and there are none, in either country, as yet, with more than two, ex¬ 
ceed, in their original cost, the best constructed canals in America, of ordin¬ 
ary dimensions. 

4th. That the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. acknowledged, by the last 
annual report of its President and Directors, to be as yet imperfectly made 
for two-thirds of its extent below the Point of Rocks, and having but two 
tracks, will cost, per mile, nearly or quite as much, and if its obvious defects be 
hereafter supplied, probably more than the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, 
which, when done, will be the largest in the world; and, in construction, 
inferior to none. 

5th. That the actual cost of transportation, for commodities, on the only 
railroad in England, of two tracks, on stone sills, fitted for the exchange of 
commodities between its extremes, exceeds the actual cost of transportation 
on any of the canals of ordinary dimensions in the United States, in the ratio 
of near or quite three to one, and this, whether the propelling power be ani¬ 
mal labor, or steam. 

6th. That the cost of transportation on the first and best constructed divi¬ 
sion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, a division, about 13 miles long, 
which has cost $60,000 a mile, has not been reported by the President and 
Directors of that company, but probably exceeds the cost of transportation 
on the Liverpool and Manchester railroad, and is thrice as great , as the 
cost of transportation on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 

7th. That the relative cost of keeping up, by annual repairs, the fixed 
capital vested in the construction of railroads, and their necessary appurte¬ 
nances, and that of canals, has not been, as yet, determined by actual expe¬ 
rience for a series of years; but must prove to be greatly in favor of canals, 
so constructed, as to have no perishable structures about them, except the 
wood of the lock gates, and certain parts of the houses of their attendants. 

Sth. And hence it follows, that where great velocity is not required for 
the transportation of the commodities of a country, as in one, the chief 
commerce of which, consists of the rude productions of its forests, mines, 
and agriculture, canals furnish much more valuable channels of trade, than 
railroads. 

9th. But it rapid motion be desired, such have been the late discoveries 
made in propelling passage boats on the canals in Scotland, that a rational 
and well grounded hope may be indulged, of approximating the speed of 
travelling on canals, very near to the useful or practical velocity on the best 
constructed railroads of two or more tracks. 

10th. There will remain, then, to counterbalance all these considerations 
in favor of canals, having an adequate supply of water, but one advantage in 
favor of railroads of any number of tracks, that of being unobstructed by ice, 
during that part of each winter, in which the canal may be frozen, so deep, 
as to be innavigable. But to this objection it may be replied, that many 
winters, as far north as the valley of the Potomac, like that of 1S27 and 
1S2S, afford no ice, at any time, of the thickness of three inches; and none 
are so intensely severe as to'pass without occasional thaws. 

11th. To counterbalance this disadvantage, snow in winter, and dust in 
summer, will be more injurious to railroads, than to canals. A remedy for 


323 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

this last cause of objection, is purchased, as we have seen, on the Liverpool 
and Manchester railroad, at a heavy cost of labor. In a thinly peopled 
country, in passing successive ranges of inaccessible as well as lofty moun¬ 
tains, beneath precipices of rocks extending for miles together, the remov¬ 
al of drifts of snow, in winter, would be attended with still greater expense, 
and in snow storms or ice sleets of many hours, or several days’ duration, 
would be nearly impracticable. # 

12th. The freezing of the water in a. canal, is then, the sole consideration 
operating in the comparison unsettled between canals and railroads, to the 
prejudice of the former. 

And on this subject, there yet remains to be stated, some facts that are not 
unworthy of consideration. 

On the 1st of January, 1S31, twelve members of the House of Represen¬ 
tatives ascended the first twenty miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, in 
a commodious packet boat, <drawn by three horses amidst floating ice of 
three inches thickness, broken only the day before. It was broken by a 
flat bottomed boat, of the value of six dollars, commonly called a gondola; on 
board of which, were 248 barrels of flour, drawn by two horses, guided by 
a lad of fourteen years of age, whose father received three dollars for the 
labor of his son and houses, who descended twelve miles, and returned the 
same day. The boat was protected from being cut by the ice, by two green 
cut poles having their stump ends Attached to the bottom of it, and brought 
together at the other ends, and fastened to the tow-rope. As it proceeded, 
it pressed the ice down, and made its way through it by crushing it to pieces, 
so that fhe gondola received no injury. And if the ice on the surfaco of the 
canal, when three inches thick, can be overcome with such facility, by means 
so rude and simple, a very short period, only, of suspended navigation, in 
each year, remains to be remedied by future invention. 

The celebrated civil engineer, to whom the world owes so much, and 
whom America, his country, has so imperfectly rewarded, the late Robert 
Fulton, always believed that it would be very easy to construct a boat capable 
of freeing the navigation of canals and rivers from the obstruction of ice in 
winter. 

In the winter of 1827 and 182S, there was not ice enough, after the month 
of November, 1827, on the rivers of Virginia, to fill an ice house; and the 
ice consumed in the southern cities on navigable water, in the ensuing summer, 
was imported from New England. In the latitude of the Potomac, therefore, 
the possibility, whenever an active commerce shall require it, of removing 
the obstruction of ice, on a broad canal, cannot be doubted. And with this 
confident expectation, the memorialists close the long protracted appeal 
which they have felt it their duty to make to the representatives of the 
American people, in behalf of a national enterprize which owes its existence 
to their wisdom and patriotism, and which, if steadily prosecuted, on the 
plan on which it has been successfully begun and faithfully continued, 
will be completed in a few years, and remain, ever after, the proudest 
monument of that freedom and independence which gave it birth. 


324 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 


ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS. 


%fi description of the plan , and a statement of the cosly of the Union 
* Canal of Pennsylvania, 


The Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania connects the Susquehannah at 
Middletown, nine miles below Harrisburg, with the Schuylkill, three miles 
above the head of the Girard canal, two miles below Reading, and about 
fifty-seven miles above Philadelphia. 

Its length is 80 miles, exclusive of a navigable feeder on the Swatara, 
hereafter mentioned. 

Its works comprehend a tunnel of 243 yards in length, 18 feet wide, and 
fourteen feet in height, two summit reservoirs, containing 12 millions of 
cubic feet of water, one of them covering 27, and the other 8 acres; two 
steam engines of 100 horse power each, and three water wheels for feeding 
the canal by pumping; two dams, one across the Schuylkill, near Reading, 
and the other across the Swatara, below Hummelstown; 43 waste wiers; 40 
culverts; 135 bridges; 12 small and two large aqueducts: the latter are over 
the Swatara, one 276 feet, the other 175 in, length; two guard locks of wood, 
92 locks of cut stone, and 14 miles of protection walls of stone. 

The Swatara feeder, which is, in fact, a branch canal, is 24 miles in length, 
including the great reservoir, formed by a dam 40 feet high, and covering 
near 1,000 acres of surface, extending the navigation to the basins at Pine 
Grove. A railroad of about four miles in length has also been constructed, 
commencing at the basins in Pine Grove, and extending to the neighbor¬ 
hood of the coal mines, with a rise of about 130 feet. 

The works, and especially the numerous aqueducts and locks, have the 
reputation of being well constructed. 

On the eastern division of the Union canal, there are— 

37 miles and 61 chains of canal, 

« of towing path, 

54 locks and two guard locks, 

311 feet of descent. 

On the western division— 

33/^ miles of canal, 
j 6 v towing path, 

37 locks to the Pennsylvania canal, 

192$ feet of descent, 


2 locks of wood at Middletown, near the mouth of the Swatara; descent 
16 feet. 

The summit level, which is planked, bottom and sides, is 6™ miles in 
length. ™ 

Width of canal at bottom, 

“ “ surface of water, 

Depth, 


24 feet, 
36 “ 


Depth of summit level, 

Length of lock chamber, - 
Breadth of do 
Length of boat, - 
Breadth, out and out, 

Greatest width inside the clear, 


4 

5 
75 

Si 

67 

8 

7 


3 inches, 
6 “ 



325 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

Burthen frbm 25 to 30 tons, and will draw three feet of water: requires 
one horse or mule, and the attendance of one man and one boy. 

The Swatara feeder is 62 miles long, 20 feet in width, four miles long, 
five feet wide, and two feet deep, descent 7 feet. 

Feeder from Kentner’s reservoir 12 miles long, two feet deep, and A\ 
feet wide; descent 4-^ feet/ 

The cost of this canal and railroad has been, exclusive of interest on 
loans, about two millions of dollars. Its stock consists of 2,500 shares of 
new, and 73S shares of old stock, at $200 each, which are now selling in the 
Philadelphia market at 228 to §230 for the former, and 185 to 190 for the 
latter. The company have loans amounting to §1,430,400, upon which they 
pay quarterly an interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum. 

The tolls of this canal for the two last years, amounted to the following 
sums: in 1S30, §35,133 82; in 1S31, 59,137 21; and was derived from the 
| following commodities, viz. 


Flour, 

Gypsum, 

Tobacco, 

Wheat and rye. 

Fish, 

Leather, 

Whiskeys 

Salt, 

Limestone, 

Iron, 

Merchandise, 

Butter, 

Coal, 

Lumber, 

Corn, 

Lard, 

Flaxseed, 

Hemp, 

Shingles, 

Staves, 

Cloverseed, 

Cotton, 

Bricks, &c. 


The repairs of this canal from the 1st of April, lS28,'to January 1, 1831, 
amounted to §14,737 40. 

Repairs for 1831 alone, §2,723, which shows that the amount for repairs 
is fast decreasing. 

It has four collectors of tolls, whose salaries amount, altogether, to about 
§1,250 per annum; SO lock tenders and engineer? at water works, who re¬ 
ceive, on an average, §10,223 25 per annum for their services. 

The tolls are collected at the following places, viz. Fair Mount, Reading, 
Lebanon, and Middletown, and some of the lock tenders are allowed to re¬ 
ceive tolls from boats passing a short distance on the line. 

— 


RATES OF TOLL UPON THE UNION CANAL—1831. 


ARTICLES. 

PER TON, &C. 

toll per 
mile. 

Toll 

whole 

disFce. 

Ashes, pot and pearl 

m m 

Per ton of 7 barrels - 

_ 

H cts. 

§1 20 

Bark - 

- 

- 

cord --- 

- 

1 

80 

ground - 

- 

- 

ton - 

- 

H 

1 00 

Bricks 

- 

- 

ton of 500 

- 

2 

60 

Beef, salted - 

- 

. 

ton of S barrels - 

- 

n 

1 20 

Boards and other sawed stuff - 

100 feet board measure 

12 

1 00 

Barley 

- 

- 

ton ofl50 bushels 

- 

n 

1 20 

Butter 

- 

- 

ton - 

- 

n 

1 20 

Clay - 

- 

- 

ton - 

- 

* 

40 

Cider - 

. 

- 

ton of 8 bbls, or 2 hluls 

u 

1 20 

Coal - 

. 

- 

ton - 

- 

2 

60 









326 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 

RATES OF TOLL—Continued. 


ARTICLES. 

PER TON, &C. 

toll pei 
mile. 

Toll 

whole 

dist’ce. 

Corn, Indian 

. 

Per ton of 40 bushels 

_ 

n 

1 20 

Earth - - - • - 

_ 

ton - 

- 

* 

40 

Fish, salted - 

- 

ton of 7ft bbls or 14 half 





bbls 

- 

1ft 

1 20 

Flour - 

- 

ton of 10ft barrels 

- 

1ft 

1 20 

Furniture, household - 

- 

ton - 

- 

2 

1 60 

Grindstones 

- 

ton - 

- 

1 

80 

Gypsum -■ 

- 

ton - 

- 

1 

80 

Hay - 

- 

ton - 

- 

l 

SO 

Hoop poles, for barrels 

- 

ton of 400^1 




Do for hhds. and pipes 

ton of 200 ( 


1 


Heading for do 

- 

ton of 400 ( 


1 

eO 

Do for barrels - * 

- 

ton of 500 J 




Iron, bar, blooms, or vvrou 

ght 

ton * 

- 

n 

1 00 

castings 

- 

ton - 

- 

n 

1 00 

ore - 

- 

ton * 

- 

h 

40 

pig - 

- 

ton - 

- 

i 

80 

Lard - - - 

- 

hton - 

- 

n 

1 20 

Lime - 

- 

ton of 28 bushels 

- 


60 

Limestone - 

- 

ton - 

_ 

i 

40 

Manure - 

- 

ton x - 

_ 

\ 

40 

Marble, unwrought 

- 

ton - 

- 

i 

60 

manufactured - 

- 

ton 

- 

2 

1 60 

Merchandise 

- 

ton - 

_ 

2 

1 60 

Mill stones and French burrs 

ton - 

_ 

H 

1 00 

Oats - 

- 

ton of 80 bushels 

- 

n 

1 20 

Oysters - 

- 

ton of 4,000 

- 

2 

1 60 

Pork, salted 

- 

ton of 8 barrels - 

_ 

1ft 

1 20 

Posts, and rails, split 

- 

100 - 

_ 

1 

80 

Plastering lath, 3 feet long 

- 

50 bundles, or 5,000 to 





the ton - 

- 

1ft 

1 20 

Rye - 

- 

ton of 40 bushels 

- 

1ft 

1 20 

Rosin - 

- 

ton of 8 barrels - 

- 

2 

1 60 

Salt, fine - 

- 

ton of 45 bushels } 




coarse - 

- 

ton of 32 bushels 3 

* 

2 

1 60 

Seed, clover J 






flax C 

- 

ton of 40 bushels > 


1ft 

1 20 

of all other kinds \ 


$ 




Shingles - 

- 

thousand - 



60 

Straw - 

- 

ton - 


ft 

40 

Staves, for pipes - 

- 

ton of 400 'J 




for hogsheads 

- 

ton of 500 C 


1 

80 

for barrels - 

- 

#ton of 600 S 




Stone - 

- 

ton of 4-5ths of a perch 

ft 

40 

Tar - 

- 

ton of 7 barrels - 

_ 

2 

1 60 

Timber, round and square 

- 

90 solid feet 


li 

1 00 

Wheat - 

- 

ton of 40 bushels 

-1 

1ft 1 

1 20 










RATES OF TOLL—Continued. 


Whiskey, and other domestic 
distilled spirits - 

Per ton of 2 hhds. or S bbls. 

11 

Window glass - 

ton of 2,S00 feet 

2 

Wood. 

cord - 

1 

On all articles not enumerated, 
passing eastward 

ton - - - 

14 

On all articles not enumerated, 


/ 

passing westward 

ton - 

2 

On passing boats - 

mile - 

20 

On boats used for transporta¬ 
tion, carrying over 5 tons - 

mile - 

2 

Ga boats, if empty, or carrying 
not more than 5 tons, besides 
the toll on cargo 

mile - 

4 

For passing the outlet locks at 
Middletown (except such 
boats as have come,or are go¬ 
ing immediately on the Uni¬ 
on canal): 

On every loaded boat - 



. On every empty boat - t 

. 

- 


1 40 
1 60 
80 

1 20 

1 60 
16 00 

1 60 


3 20 


75 

50 


STATEMENT of the Tonnage which passed the Union Canal, from 
the first of November , 1830, to November 1st , 1831. 


ARTICLES. 

QUANTITY. 

WEIGHING-TONS. 

Flour - 

74,905 barrels 

7,133 16 0 0 

Wheat and rye - 

257,565 bushels 

6,439 3 2 0 

Whiskey - 

12,763 barrels 

1,595 720 

Iron - 


5,110 15 3 14 

Coal (bituminous) 

85,053 bushels 

2,835 2 3 0 

Lumber - 

13,303,000 feet - 

13,303 1 1 0 

Shingles - 

6,292,000 - 

3,146 5 2 0 

Staves - 


83 0 3 0 

Gypsum * 


6,996 1 2 0 

Fish - 

12,263 barrels 

1,635 2 1 7 

Salt - 

61,920 bushels 

1,548 8 3 23 

Merchandise - 
Sundries, consisting of corn, 
flaxseed, clover seed, cot¬ 
ton, tobacco, leather, lime¬ 
stone, butter, lard, hemp, 

• 

6,3S9 6 3 0 

bricks, &c. - 


3,755 4 0 22 

Total amount of tonnage - 

. 

59,970 16 2 10 


Amount of tolls received during the same period, $59,137 21. 




























328 


[ Doc. No. 101. "I 

Extract from a speech of Mr. Maynard, delivered February 25, 1832, 
in the Senate of New York , showing how small a portion oj the revc - 
nue of the Erie canal is derived from passengers . 

The report of the canal board, said Mr. Maynard, states the amount of 
tolls received on passengers in packet boats during the last year, at about 
8,000 dollars; but that they were not able to state the precise amount re¬ 
ceived on passengers in other boats. They had, however, given some data 
from which a calculation could be made, and from which he had made an 
estimate, though it was difficult to ascertain the precise sum. His estimate 
was, that the tolls on packet boats amounted to 12,000 dollars, to which, be¬ 
ing added the 8,000 dollars received on passengers, made the whole amount 
received on these boats and their passengers, 20,000 dollars. The amount 
of line boats, he estimated at 2 S,000, but would set it down at 30,000. The 
whole amount would then be 50,000 received annually from this source; and 
it remained to be considered how much would be withdrawn from the canal, 
should this road be constructed.'* Mr. M. conceded that all the travelling in 
packet boats would be withdrawn from the canal if this road should be con¬ 
structed, but denied that any would be withdrawn from the line or freight 
boats. Those who travelled in them consisted almost wholly of emigrants 
from the eastern States to the western country, and emigrants from Eu¬ 
rope, English, Irish, Swiss, [Germans, Mancks, and Welsh, having the 
same destination, none of whom would ever travel on the railroad. They 
did not desire expedition, but sought a slow, safe, and economical mode of 
conveyance , and there was none more economical , than in those boats, where 
an adult passenger could be carried one hundred miles, for two dollars and a 
half, including his board. Mr. M. believed it a fair estimate that $50,000 
annually, for tolls from this source, was all that would ever be realized. 
Now, said Mr. M., will the State retain all this, if the railroad be not made? 
He thought not. A report made by the canal board to the Senate, in 1830, 
stated that these packet boats should be driven from the canal, sooner or 
later. And a report from the Committee on Canals of the Senate of the same 
year, stated that it was a convenient mode of travelling and transporting 
valetudinarians, but that they had done more injury to the canal , than all the 
tolls ever paid by them, into the canal fund, had benefitted that fund, and 
that it would be*better to stop them at once. Still they had been permitted 
to remain. The proprietors, themselves, believed that the time was not far 
distant when they would be driven from the canal.” 


RAILROAD FROM ALBANY TO SCHENECTADY. 

Report of the President and Secretary of the Mohawk and Hudson Rail¬ 
road Company to the House of Assembly of the State of New York. 

New York, January 26, 1S32 

The undersigned, the President and Secretary of the Mohawk and Hudson 
Railroad Company, beg leave, in compliance with the resolution of the hon¬ 
orable House of Assembly of the 21st instant, respectfully to report: 

1. That it appears by the books of the treasurer of the said company, that 
the sum of four hundred and eighty three thousand two hundred and fifteen 
dollars and forty six cents, (483,*215,46) has been actually paid and disbursed 
in the construction of said railroad,f up to the present date. 

* A road parallel to the canal. 

| Tliis railroad is but sixteen miles long. 



[ Doc. No. 101. ] 3 j 29 

2. That, from the estimates of the engineers of the said company, and from 
an examination recently made of the contracts not yet completed, it : appears, 
that, to complete a double railroad within the limits prescribed by the act 
incorporating the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company, with the neces¬ 
sary machinery, carriages, and appurtenances, will require the expenditure 
of the additional sum of one hundred and fifty-six thousand six hundred and 
ninety-three dollars and eighty-seven cents, ($156,693.87.) 

3. That the precise route of the branch railroad contemplated by the said 
company, has not yet been determined upon, nor any accurate examination 
made of the ground. The undersigned are therefore unable to state with 
any certainty what the expense of constructing the branch railroad will 
amount to, but they are inclined to believe that it will not vary materially 
from the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, ($100,000,) beingthe amount 
the said company has (in the joint application made with the Albany and 
Schenectady Turnpike Company, to the honorable the Legislature of the 
State,) prayed may be added to its capital stock for the express purpose of 
making said branch. 

The undersigned beg leave respectfully to add, that, until the railroad be 
completed, the details of the items on which the expenditures above recited 
have accrued, are necessarily kept in the offices of the engineers of the com¬ 
pany, in the cities of Albany and Schenectady. They have therefore judged 
it to be more respectful to the honorable House over whose deliberations 
you preside, to communicate forthwith the information immediately within 
their reach, complying, as it fully does, with the terms of the resolution, than 
to delay for the purpose of presenting their report in a detailed form, speci¬ 
fying the exact objects to which the expenditures have been directed. They 
beg leave, however, to tender, on behalf of the board of directors of the 
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad'Company, any additional information their 
archives may contain, and this not as a matter of mere duty, but in the be¬ 
lief that the experience of this company may be of value in the investigation 
of the many projects of similar character now pending before the Legisla¬ 
ture. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, 
President of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company . 

JAS. RENWICK, 

Secretary of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company. 


RAILROAD FROM NEWCASTLE TO FRENCHTOWN, 

IN THE STATE OP DELAWARE. 

The length of the road from centre of Front street, in Newcastle, to the 
wharf, on Elk river, at Frenchtown, is 86,910 feet, or 16 T 4 6 «* miles. 

Note.—The length of a straight line, connecting the eastern and western 
terminations of the road, is 84,332 feet, or 15-^ miles. 

This road is composed of 6 curves and 6 straight lines, of which the 
curves amount to 27,240 feet, or 5 T ^ miles. 

And the straight lines amount to 59,670 feet, or 1IX miles. 

I The radius of the least curve is 10,560 feet, or 2 miles. The deflection on 
100 feet of which, is of a foot, or 1 T ^ inches. 

The radius of the greatest curve is 20,000 feet, or miles. The de¬ 
flection on 100 feet of which, is 0.062 of a foot, or I of an inch. 

42 



330 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The road bed is graded 26 feet wide, exclusive of side drains; average 
width, including drains, about 35 feet. 

The whole amount of excavation, exclusive of those drains, is 496,000 
cubic yards. 

And the whole amount of embankment is 423,000 cubic yards. 

There are 4 bridges or viaducts, and 29 culverts of stone masonrj". 

The deepest excavation is 36^ feet. 

The highest embankment 23 T \ feet. 

The greatest ascent or descent on the road is 29 feet to a mile. This 
grade is only for about of a mile next to the western termination of the 
road. 

The greatest ascent or descent on any other part of the road, is 16^ feet 
per mile. 

The cost of graduation, including the cutting of drains, filling wharves for 
landings at New Castle and Frenchtown; and also horse track within the 
rails, and exclusive of masonry, - $185,000 

Or, per mile, about, ------ 11,000 

The cost of bridges and culverts, (materials and workmanship) about 16,000 
Or, per mile, nearly, - 1,000 

A single track of railroad is laid down with seven sidelings for turn-outs of 
500 feet in length each. 

On about 9 miles of the track, the rails are laid upon blocks of granite, con¬ 
taining each about 2 cubic feet, placed at the distance of 3 feet apart from 
centre to centre, and well bedded on sand or gravel. 

The string pieces upon which the iron bars, or rails, are laid, are of Geor¬ 
gia yellow heart pine, 6 inches square, and are fastened to the blocks by cast 
iron knees, two to each stone. 

The iron rails (or bars) are inches wide, and f of an inch thick. 

On the remainder of the track, say 7\ miles, the string pieces and rails of 
the above description, are supported on wood foundations; the greater por¬ 
tion of which is of the description following, viz. 

Hemlock plank, averaging about 10 inches wide and 4 inches thick, are 
laid lengthwise along the track on both sides, in the bottom, resting on sand 
or gravel. On this foundation, cross sleepers of white oak, about 7\ feet 
long and eight inches in diameter, are laid 3 feet apart from centre to centre, 
which are spiked down to the plank. On these sleepers, the string pieces 
rest, and are secured to them in the usual manner. 

The cost of materials and workmanship for the part of the track with stone 
foundations, per mile, ..... $6,300 00 

Cost of the materials and workmanship for the part of track with wood 
foundation, per mile, ------ $4,440 00 

The total cost of the road, including land, fencing, damages, wharves or 
landings, expense of engineer department, pay of officers, &c., and exclu¬ 
sive of depots and other buildings not completed, - - $365,000 00 

Or, per mile, about, - 22,000 00 


New Castle, April 7th> 1832. 

Dear Sir: The preceding answers to your inquiries relative to our rail¬ 
road, are made out as exhibiting, as near as practicable, the information de¬ 
sired. As we have not yet entirely completed the road, we cannot present 



331 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

a statement of expenditure embracing the full amount, with certainty. As 
to the expense of transportation, we have not yet had time to ascertain what 
it will be. 

Yours, respectfully, &c., 

KENSEY JOHNS, Jr. 

Hon. Chas. F. Mercer. 

LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILROAD. 

From Gore’s Liverpool General Advertiser . 

Published prior to the commencement of the road. 

“ PROPOSED RAILROAD. 

“ Mr. Stephenson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has laid down the line be¬ 
tween Liverpool and Manchester; the distance is 33 1-16 miles. The sur¬ 
veys are nearly completed, and the committee entertain not the least doubt 
of being ready for the next session of Parliament. Independent of the great 
benefit which the commercial interest will derive from the project, which, 
both as regards time and cheapness, will prove most important, the landed 
interest in the vicinity of the line, will also derive very great benefit. The 
communication will be so cheap and rapid, that the distance from a market 
for produce, or for the supply of manure, will amount to very little. New 
collieries will be opened, and coals will be much reduced in price. The 
public, in general, entertain wrong impressions respecting railways: they 
never hear them mentioned, without referring to such as are seen in the 
neighborhood of coal pits and stone quarries. But such improvements have 
taken place, that they are no longer the same thing; besides which, a rail¬ 
way, without a locomotive engine, is something like a cart without a horse, 
a trade without profit, or a canal without water. ” 


From the Courier. 

RAILROADS AND LOCOMOTIVE STEAM ENGINES. 

The public, generally, are but very little aware of the uses to which rail¬ 
roads are about to be applied. The following information, therefore, will, we 
trust, be acceptable to our readers. 

Hitherto, railroads have been used for very limited purposes, and when¬ 
ever they are spoken of, it is in connection with coal pits and stone quarries; 
but they are now about to be applied for the purpose of conveying mer¬ 
chandise over very extended lines of country, and thus they are becoming 
an object of great national interest. 

Railroads, as hitherto worked by horses, possess very little, if any, ad¬ 
vantage over canals; but railroads worked by the locomotive steam engine, 
have so decided a superiority, both as regards time and expense, that there 
can be no question but they will be generally adopted, wherever a new line 
of conveyance has become necessary, either from an increased trade, or from 
the exorbitant demands of canal proprietors. 

By the locomotive engine, fifty tons of goods may be conveyed by a ten 
horse power engine on a level road, at the rate of six miles an hour, and 
lighter weights at a proportioned increase of speed. Carriages for the con¬ 
veyance of passengers, at the rate of 12 or 14 miles per hour. For canals, 
it is necessary to have a dead level, but not so for railroads; an engine will 
work goods over an elevation of one-eighth of an inch to the yard. Where 




332 


£ Doc. No. 101. ] 


the ascent or descent is rapid, and cannot be counteracted by cuttings or em¬ 
bankments, recourse must be had to permanent engines and inclined planes, 
just as recourse is had to locks for canals: but here again the railroad sys¬ 
tem has a great advantage; the inclined plane causes no delay, while locking 
creates a great deal. 

Two acts of Parliament have already been obtained, namely, the Stockton 
and Darlington act, and the Moreton act. On these lines, which exceed 
thirty miles each, it is intended to adopt the locomotive engine, and they 
will both be very soon ready for the conveyance of goods. There are also 
three or four other railroads projected. 

Two years ago, several gentlemen in Liverpool and Manchester subscrib¬ 
ed to obtain a survey of a line between those two towns. It was accom¬ 
plished and found practicable. From various causes, the prosecution of the 
plan was delayed; but, a few months since , it was undertaken with great 
spirit. A deputation from both towns was appointed to inspect the rail¬ 
roads and locomotive engines of the north. They inspected the Stockton and 
Darlington line, and inquired minutely into its cost; they witnessed the en¬ 
gines working on the Helton railroad, near Sunderland, and made a most 
favorable report. The committee immediately appointed Mr. George Ste¬ 
phenson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, their engineer, who has since surveyed 
and adopted a new line. Its length is 33 and 1-16th miles, and the greatest 
ascent or descent is only 1-16th of an inch to the yard. The distance by 
the high road is 36 miles, and by the canals and river 50 miles. The shares 
appropriated to Liverpool and Manchester, have all been disposed of, but 
the committee have a small number placed in their hands, to be distributed 
as they may deem proper. Application for an act will be made next session 
of Parliament; the cost is estimated at about £ 300,000.* Mr. Stephenson 
has also laid down a line between Birmingham and Liverpool, of which re¬ 
port speaks most favorably; and the Birmingham committee will also go to 
Parliament next session. 


Extract from a late Report of the Directors of the Liverpool and Man¬ 
chester railway . 

Liverpool, 2 8th September , 1831. 

The directors, at thegeneral meeting held in this place exactly six months 
ago, laid before the proprietors the result of the working of the railway for 
3£ months, up to the 31st December, 1830. 

They have now to report the result of six months’ operations, from the 
1st January, to the 30th June last. During that period, the company’s busi¬ 
ness, both in merchandise and passengers, has been gradually and steadily 
on the increase. 

The tonnage of merchandise conveyed between Liverpool 
and Manchester, for the six months, amounts to - - 35,865 tons. 

Between Liverpool arid the Bolton junction, - - 6,827 i( 


42,692 “ 

Coals, principally from the Huyton collieries, a distance 
of five miles from Liverpool, - 2,899 « 

Number of passengers booked at the company’s offices, 188,726 


* About one-third of its actual cost. 










333 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The gross receipts on this traffic are as follows: 

On passengers,.- .£43,600 T 5 

merchandise, ------- 21,875 0 1 

coal,.. 218 62 

£65,693 13 8 


Amounting to 45. 7%d. each, per passenger booked, and 105. 3 d. per ton 
of merchandise conveyed. 

The disbursements upon the same traffic, amount to £35,379 3 10 


Or, belonging to the coaching department, - - £19,099 16 5 

to merchandise, &c. - 16,279 7 5 

£35,379 3 10 


These disbursements , the directors , from the classification of their ac¬ 
counts , are enabled to apportion to the different departments , and under 
different heads of expenditure , as follows: 


Disbursements exclusively in 
the coaching department, 
consisting of porterage, sal¬ 
aries, repairs, &c., includ¬ 
ing 2£d per passenger for 
Omnibussus 

Disbursements exclusively in 
the merchandise depart¬ 
ment, consisting of porter¬ 
age, salaries, cartages, &c. 
Locomotive power account, 
proportioned according to 
the number of trips of 30 
miles, in each department 
respectively,comprising re¬ 
pairs of engines, wages, 
coke, &c., including <£33 
17s. 3d. for conveyance of 
coal as back carriage 
Sundry disbursements pro¬ 
portioned according to the 
• receipts in each depart¬ 
ment, conisting of police 
establishment, general of¬ 
fice establishment, mainte- 
nance of way, rates, taxes, 
&c. including £2910 0s. 3d. 
for interest of money bor¬ 
rowed - 


Total disbursements 
Amount of profit - 

Gross receipts as per above 
statement 


Per pas¬ 
senger 
booked. 

Per ton 
of mer¬ 
chandise. 

Coaching de¬ 
partment. 

Merchandise 

department. 

Totals. 

s, d. 

a . cl. 

£. s. d. 

£. 8. d. 

£. s. d. 

0 7f 

- 

6146 11 0 

- 

6146 11 0 

* 

3 lOf 

- 

8306 3 11 

8306 3 11 

0 Sf 

1 8$ 

4505 18 10 

3692 14 5 

8198 13 3 

0 10! 

i iii 

8447 6 7 

4280 9 1 

12727 15 8 

2 

2 7 

7 7 

2 8 

19099 16 5 
24500 11 0 

16279 7 5 
5813 18 10 

35379 3 10 
30314 9 10 

4 7 i 

10 3 

43600 7 5 

22093 6 3 

65693 13 8 

























334 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

« The directors have found the disbursements consider ably heavier than? 
they anticipated, especially that portion of them belonging to the merchandise 
department. It may be proper, however, to remark, that the quantity of mer¬ 
chandise conveyed is comparatively small, the business at the present moment 
being on a much larger scale than the average business of the six months in¬ 
cluded in this statement, while the expense of carriage will not keep pace in 
the same ratio with the increase of the tonnage. On the other hand, with re¬ 
ference to the present result, as no allowance, is made for wear of materials, 
(except what is comprised in actual repairs,) the first six months will have 
some advantage over succeeding periods, from the wagons, &c. being new 
to begin with. The above statement of receipts and disbursements has refer¬ 
ence, of course, exclusively to the traffic on the line. The sum raised by 
the creation of new quarter shares, being appropriated altogether to the 
building of warehouses, wharfs and sheds, the purchase of engines, cranes 
and wagons, and, generally, to the completion of the road and the works. ,y 

The following extracts are from a work entitled u Remarks on Canal 

Navigation , by William Fair bairn, Engineer , published in London 

in 1831.” 

Since the first formation of canals in this country, p there have been very 
few attempts made to improve the construction of vessels adapted to an in¬ 
land navigation. The passage boaf;s of the present day are nearly the same 
as they were fifty years ago; and little, or rather no improvement has taken 
place in the heavier description of vessels for the conveyance of goods, 
since the period of their first introduction. Probably this might have gone 
on in the same state of supposed perfection, had not the introduction of 
railways, which are now in progress, occasioned such a sensation in the 
country. 

From the first commencement of canal navigation up to the present 
time, the average speed of conveyance has never exceeded four miles and a 
half per hour on passage boats, and two miles and a half on heavy flats.— 
This seems to have been the maximum velocity; and it wa3 taken as an es¬ 
tablished rule, that boats could not be conveyed along canals, at a greater 
rate, without incurring loss, and a considerable increase in the cost of transit. 

My particular attention was, in the month of January last, drawn to 
these very obvious defects in canal navigation, by Mr. Thomas Grahame, 
of Glasgow, who hgid, for some years before, been giving a great deal of at¬ 
tention to the improvements on canal navigation, by the introduction of 
steam as a moving power. 

Mr. Grahame requested me to give Ihe subject my best consideration, in * 
order to see how far such a light description of boat, having a small draught 
of water, would be applicable to quick speed, and whether steam could not 
advantageously used as a propelling power on canals. 

The fulfilment of Mr. Grahame’s instructions, was surrounded with diffi¬ 
culties of no ordinary character; such as the resistance of fluids to moving 
bodies, the agitation of the surface, and the consequent danger to the banks 
of the canal, arising from the surge or wave, occasioned by vessels propell¬ 
ed at a quick rate. These and many other obstacles presented themselves. 
Not the least, however, was the power requisite to raise, and maintain an 
accelerated velocity in bodies opposed by such a powerful resistance. It 
also appeared questionable, whether the power required was not more than 
commensurate to the advantage gained by the proposed increase of speed. 


335 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

In Holland, the passage boats travel at the rate of six English miles per 
hour; and I believe, on some lines of navigation, it is no uncommon occur¬ 
rence for boats to move even at a greater velocity. In this country we sel¬ 
dom, if ever exceed five miles; and I am inclined to think, that four miles 
and a half per hour is the greatest and most advantageous speed we have 
yet attained. 

The source, to which I looked for improvements, was steam; a judicious 
employment of which might remove the difficulties, and furnish power suf¬ 
ficient to overcome all obstructions. Steam engines of the usual con 
struction, from their great weight, seemed but indifferently calculated for 
propelling boats on canals, as the draught of water would be increased, and 
greater risk of injury to the banks would be the consequence. Engines on 
the locomotive principle, from their portability and lightness, appeared best 
fitted for the purpose, and best calculated to give the requisite force, with¬ 
out materially increasing the weight of the boat, or producing the appre¬ 
hended injury to the canal banks. 

This being a settled point, the next consideration was, how to employ 
these engines to advantage; how to give perfect security; and, at the same 
time, how to produce at least a double velocity, without incurring the inju 
rious tendencies already detailed. This was certainly a desideratum more 
to be wished for than expected. We all know that force must be applied to 
a body to move it through a fluid; that such force meets with opposition from 
the resisting fluid; and, that that resistance is stated to increase with the 
squares of the velocities. These points being taken for granted, it will be 
seen that there was much to contend with in surmounting such formidable 
obstacles. 

Taking as a datum what has been already stated, that the resistance of 
fluids to passing bodies is as the square of the velocities, I had then to cal 
culate what power would be requisite to give the increased speed to boats of 
different tonnage, and to produce a force equal to the resistance as laid 
down by scientific men, who have treated on this subject. 

I was prevented pursuing with Mr. Grahame the inquiries on the sub¬ 
ject of canal steam navigation, by business, which compelled my own and 
his attendance in London for the greatest part of last spring. 

While we were engaged there, an experiment was made by William 
Houstoun, esquire, of Johnstone, on the Ardrossan canal; the results of 
which were communicated to me, and which at once seemed to make rapid 
motion on a canal infinitely more easy, by doing away with the danger of 
injury to the banks, by wave or surge consequent on quick motion through 
a comparatively narrow body of water. 

The experiment, made by Mr. Houstoun, consisted in the introduction in 
to the canal of a common gig boat, in which ten or twelve passengers were 
seated; after which the boat was drawn through the canal by a single track 
horse, at the rate of twelve miles an hour, without either wave or surge.— 
Unluckily no printed account of this experiment was ever published, or it 
would be proper here to insert it. 

In pursuance of this first experiment, Mr. Grahame, on his return to 
Glasgow, proposed to have it renewed on the Forth and Clyde canal; but, 
on examining the gig boat, with which the experiment was made, he found 
it was .so light and unsteady, as to give an idea of want of safety to passen’* 
gers; and he was afraid that if a larger and stronger boat were built, it 
might have the same faults; and, at all events, it would be so crank as to be 
unfitted for the application of steam power. 


336 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

To avoid these difficulties, and to obtain steadiness and security on the 
water, the idea of a twin boat, of the description of the single gig boat, sug¬ 
gested itself to Mr. Grahame, and, to prove the suggestion, an experiment 
was made, of which the following account appeared in the various newspa¬ 
pers of the day: 

“ Experiments on the velocity of light boats on a canal. 

(< The following experiments prove, most satisfactorily, that a very high 
rate of speed may be obtained and kept up on canals for the conveyance of 
passengers and luggage, at a very trifling expense, and without injury to the 
banks, by the agitation of the water. 

“ About six weeks ago, at the suggestion of one of the committee of ma¬ 
nagement of the Ardrossan canal, a gig, such as is used in rowing matches, 
was hired, and being launched on that canal, it was found that she could be 
drawn along the canal at the rate of twelve miles per hour. On this occa¬ 
sion, eight persons and the steersman were in the gig, when a distance of 
two miles was accomplished with one horse in ten minutes, without any 
•urge or agitation of the water, so as to injure the banks. 

“ As, from the necessary lightness of the above description of boats, they 
are very crank or unsteady in the water, and easily moved from side to side, 
the following experiment, to try the effect of a double or twin boat, was 
made on the Forth and Clyde canal, on Thursday last. 

“Two gigs were hired, but unluckily two of the same size could not be 
procured. The one gig was thirty-three feet in length, and four feet two 
inches in breadth, at the broadest point. The other was thirty feet in length, 
and four feet in breadth, at th6 broadest. They were strongly fastened toge¬ 
ther by cross planks, and otherwise secured, so as to prevent any yielding. 
At the point in front where the respective keels cut the water, the distance 
was exactly four feet nine inches, measuring along the surface of the water, 
while the distance about the centre of the boats, measuring on the surface 
of the water, was only 18 inches. Between the prows of the two boats, a 
pole was fixed or inserted in one of Ihe connecting boards, three feet in 
height, and to the top of which a towing line was attached, which, unfortu¬ 
nately, however, was too short and too thick. The horses, also, used for the 
trial, could not, except at a gallop, go at a pace above eight miles an hour. 
The boats proceeded from the old basin on the Forth and Clyde canal, and 
went out three miles and a half towards Kirkintilloch. The first mile, in¬ 
cluding the passage of a bridge, where the line was thrown off, and the 
time lost in consequence of the rope yielding over the top of the pole, and 
being thus disengaged from the boat, was about seven minutes; and the 
surge was not greater than that raised by the common canal passage boat. 
Even at the curves, where, from the shortness of the line, the boats were 
obliged to come close into shore, the water never receded under the bottom 
of the stone facing. The next two miles were done, each in the course of 
six minutes, but the pace was very irregular, owing to the necessity of 
keeping the horse at a gallop. In returning the three miles and a half 
homewards, no regular account was kept of the first two miles and a half; 
but the last mile was done in five minutes, including the time lost at the 
passage of a drawbridge, where the line had to be thrown off, and the pass¬ 
ing of a large sloop, where the speed was obliged to be slackened.^ In the 
last mile, the surge occasioned by the passage of the boat through the canal, 
was less than when moving at a lower velocity, and could not, by possibili¬ 
ty, injure the banks in the least degree, where lined with stone; nor would 


337 


[ Doc. No. 101. J 


the surge have injured the banks more, though unlined with stone, than the 
ordinary passage boats moving a little upwards of five miles an hour. Mr. 
Hunter, the proprietor of the boats, stated his belief that this would be the 
result of a high rate of speed before it was tried; but whether the decrease 
of vvave arose from the steersman of the boats having become better ac¬ 
quainted with their trim in the canal, or from whatever other cause it arose, 
their effect was evident to every person on board When passing through 
tlie water, there was very little agitation on the outside of the two boats, but 
the water was frequently raised six and seven inches, and more in the centre 
parts of the little trough or canal between the boats; so much so, that small 
portions of it were thrown over into the boats. The water, after passing the 
straight parts of the trough or canal between the boats, came out with great 
rapidity behind, and went off in a small column or wave, sometimes five or 
six inches above the keels or rudders, making towards the banks on each 
side. The number of people on board the boats, was nine or ten. After 
this experiment, the larger boat was detached, and two miles out and in on 
the canal were done at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. One of these 
miles, where a bridge bad to be passed, and in which a loaded vessel was 
also passed, and where, at the bridge, the line had to be thrown off, and then 
caught and thrown into the boat, was done in four minutes and a half. In 
fact the speed seemed only limited by the power of the horses. The surf or 
surge was very slight with the single boats, even when moving at fifteen 
miles an hour; but still it bore a much greater proportion to that occasioned 
by the double boat, considering the very unfair nature of the trial, than 
could have been imagined. No danger is to be apprehended from the stop¬ 
page of the double or single boats, however suddenly, as the}?’ brought them¬ 
selves up almost instantaneously. It is right to explain, in regard to the trial 
of the single boat, that this trial was-made with the same horse that had 
previously done the experiment in the double boat; otherwise, the time 
would, no doubt, have been considerably shorter. One horse only was used 
in drawing, and, for the first two or three miles, it was ridden by the driver, 
a heavy man, without a saddle. 

“ There can be no doubt, that, if the above experiment had been made 
with a properly constructed twin boat, the surge or wave must have been 
much diminished, if not entirely done away with, while the boat would have 
been equally steady. We understand that a large passage boat, of a gig-shape, 
is at present constructing by Mr. Wood, of Port-Glasgow, for the Ardros- 
san canal, and that it is expected she will perform the voyage between Pais¬ 
ley and Glasgow, in three quarters of an hour, carrying 36 passengers. As 
this boat is to be single, it has been suggested that any unsteadiness or crank¬ 
ness in the water, may be done away with, by placing around the boat, and 
a little above the water mark, a hollow copper or iron tube, such as is used 
in safety boats. In this way, she would at once be brought to a bearing, be¬ 
fore yielding much to either side, and, at the same time, the boat would be 
at once made a safety boat. 

“Three different results from the above experiment, are worthy attention; 
first, the ease with which the boats were brought up or stopped, when mov¬ 
ing at a high rate of velocity; second, the little additional labor in drawing, 
occasioned to the horse when drawing the boat at this high rate, as compared 
with a low rate of velocity; and, third, the apparent diminution of the surge 
or agitation in the water, at a high rate of velocity. The best explanatio r 
of these matters, is by the supposition, that, at a high rate of velocity, t-’ e 
$at boat rises toward the surface, and skims over instead of cutting the wa er * 
43 





338 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The moment the towing line is slacked of, the boat sinks to her usual depth, 
and of course brings herself up immediately, owing to the increased resist¬ 
ance of the additional column of water which she must cut. On the other 
hand, when moving at a high rate, and skimming near the surface of the 
water, the labor of the horse is diminished in proportion to the diminution 
of the column of water displaced, and the wave or surge is diminished in a 
like ratio. The Ardrossan canal is a very small barge canal, fitted for boats 
of from 25 to 30 tons burthen, while the Forth and Clyde canal is ten feet 
deep, and of a proportional breadth. The gigs with which the above expe¬ 
riments were made, belonged to Mr. Hunter, boat-builder, Brown street, 
Glasgow, who fitted up the twin boats for the experiments in the Forth and 
Clyde canal; and who is, at present, engaged in making the model of a large 
twin boat, fitted to carry passengers and luggage on the Forth and Clyde canal. 
Great credit was due to Mr. Hunter for the mode in which the twin boat 
was fitted up and connected.” 

The diminution of wave or surge consequent on very rapid motion through 
the canal, stated to have been observed by Mr. Grahame, the writer of the 
above account, appeared very anomalous, and contrary to all previous theory, 
and was, by many persons present at the experiment, considered as ideal. 

In the month of June afterwards, in consequence of the success of Mr. 
Houstoun’s experiment, a light gig-shaped boat, built by the Ardrossan Canal 
Company, was launched on that canal, and the following is a detailed ac¬ 
count of her first voyage to and from Paisley: 

“ First voyage of the Paisley Canal New Passage Boat. 

“Some months ago, by the suggestion of Mr. William Houstoun, of 
Johnstone, the committee of management of the Ardrossan and Paisley ca¬ 
nal were induced to make certain experiments for ascertaining the rate of 
velocity at which a light gig boat might be propelled along that canal. The 
experiments were made with a gig rowing boat of about thirty feet in length, 
constructed by Mr. Hunter, boat-builder, Brown street, Glasgow; and this 
boat, with ten men on board, was drawn two miles along the Ardrossan or 
Paisley canal, in the space of less than ten minutes, without raising any 
surge or commotion on the water—the force employed being one horse, rid¬ 
den by a canal driver. No account of this trial has ever been given to the 
public; but it was so satisfactory as to induce the committee of the Ardros¬ 
san canal to contract with Mr. Wood, of Port Glasgow, for a gig-shaped 
passage boat, sixty feet in length, and five feet in breadth, fitted to carry from 
thirty six to forty passengers. 

“In the month of April last, a number of experiments were made in the 
Forth and Clyde canal, with two gig boats fixed together, constructed by 
Mr. Hunter, and thus forming what is called a twin boat. The object of 
these trials was to ascertain the rate of speed at which vessels might be pro¬ 
pelled along that canal, and the effect of a light double or twin boat, in giv¬ 
ing that degree of steadiness, which, it was apprehended, would be so much 
wanting in a light single boat. A statement of these experiments on the 
Forth and Clyde canal, has already appeared in the newspapers, and the 
only fact therein mentioned, which it seems necessary to repeat here, is the 
remarkable circumstance, that the quicker the boats were propelled through 
\he water, the less appearance there was of surge or wave on the sides of the 
Vial. This result, so contrary to every previous theory, was doubted by 
s &oral of the parties present at these experiments. The surge was, at no 


339 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

time, and, in no instance, to any extent, and the apparent diminution of itat 
a high rate of velocity, was supposed to be imaginary. The result of the 
experiment, however, was so satisfactory, that a twin boat of a gig shape, 
sixty feet in length, and nine feet broad, is at present building by Mr. Hun¬ 
ter, Brown street, Glasgow, and will be launched in the Forth and Clyde 
canal in the course of the present month. 

“The single gig-shaped passage boat, contracted for by the Ardrossan 
Canal Committee, was launched at Port Glasgow on Wednesday last, the 
2 d of June, and she was towed up to the Bromielaw, and thence carried to 
Port Eglinton the day following; and, on Friday the 4th of June, a trial, of 
which the following is an account, took place. The boat is sixty feet long, 
four feet six inches breadth of beam, and drew, on an average, including a 
deep keel, ten inches when light. 

“From the great hurry in which this trial was made, it was done under 
many disadvantages. None of the canal horses were accustomed to, or able 
for a continuation to move at any high rate of speed, and a post horse which 
had never towed a boat, and was quite new to the kind of work or pull ne¬ 
cessary on a canal, was the substitute. The hauling rope was too thick. The 
boat started from Port Eglinton for Paisley, a few minutes after-one o’clock, 
with twenty persons on board, and the distance from Port Eglinton to Pais¬ 
ley, being seven miles, was accomplished in one hour and seven minutes. 
The greatest speed with which the boat moved during this journey, was at 
the rate of one mile in nine minutes; and the slowest rate at which any one 
mile was accomplished, was eleven minutes.' 

“ As the horse was quite unaccustomed to dragging boats, and it was ap¬ 
prehended that it might scare at the canal, and in passing under the narrow 
bridges, the rider was ordered to start, and proceed the first mile or so at a 
very moderate pace; but even at this moderate pace, the wave raised in 
front of the boat was very considerable. A high wave was seen on the ca¬ 
nal preceding the boat, about eighty or ninety feet in front, and, in some 
cases, farther, and causing an overflow at the bridges, and in the narrow 
parts of the canal. The surge or cutting wave behind the boat was, how¬ 
ever, comparatively slight, and, except at the curves, would not have caused 
much injury to the canal banks. The horse was very much exhausted when 
he got to Paisley; though by no means so exhausted as he was about the 
middle of the journey, having sensibly recovered after the first four or five 
miles. 

“As it would have detained the party who came to witness the trial, too 
long, if they had remained at Paisley till the horse was fed, two post horses 
were hired there; and, lighter towing lines being attached to the boat, it 
started again, on its return to Glasgow, with twenty-four persons on board, 
four of whom were boys, and arrived at Glasgow, a distance of seven miles, 
in forty-five minutes. Unluckily, one of the horses, the front one, scared 
very much at the canal, and at the bridges; and two or three stoppages took 
place in consequence of this horse getting entangled with the ropes. By 
altering the mode of attaching the rope, and putting the second horse in 
front, this difficulty was partially got over; and the distance of seven miles 
was accomplished in forty-five minutes, including in these forty-five minutes 
the time occupied in disentangling the horses, and changing their positions, 
and the constant delay occasioned by the horse before mentioned scaring at 
the canal. The greatest speed attained during the journey, was two miles 
in eleven minutes. During this voyage, the surge behind was entirely got 
quit of, even at the curves, where it was reduced to nothing; and there 


340 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

was no front wave, except at the bridges. It appeared only at the bridges* 
and just as the boat was about to enter under the bridge, and gradually 
disappeared as the stern of the boat cleared the bridge. Thequicker the 
boat went, the more entire was the disappearance of all wave and surge, 
except where the water escaped in the centre of the canal, and met in two 
very noisy and rapid currents from each side of the boat at the rudder. 
This noise and rush of water "was so great behind, as to induce persons 
on board to look round, expecting to see a great wave or surge on the 
bank of the canal, but on the banks there was hardly a ripple. The two 
rapid noisy currents seemed to be completely spent and exhausted by the 
shock of their concourse behind the boat. Here,.therefore, there was no 
room to doubt of the correctness of the reports of the Forth and Clyde canal 
experiments. It was not merely to be said that the greater the speed the 
Jess the surge or wave, but it was demonstrated that, at a high rate of speed, 
surge and wave were done away with altogether. 

<£ Although, according to all established theory and calculation, as to the 
force requisite to obtain accelerated speed on water, the two horses from 
Paisley did more than triple the work of the single horse from Glasgow, 
supposing they had worked together, while it was evident that almost the 
whole work-was done by one of the two, yet they w^ere both much less fa¬ 
tigued than the single horse. Unluckily, there was no dynamometer attach¬ 
ed to the rope, so as to ascertain whether, contrary to all theory, the strain 
or pull was not equally diminished with the wave, and Ihe tugging labor of 
the two horses lessened instead of increased, by the accelerated rate at which 
they drew the boat. There can be no doubt, however, that with one train¬ 
ed horse, properly attached, the distance could be done in a period under 
forty minutes. 

c( Contrary to expectation, Mr. Wood’s boat was quite steady in the water, 
and by no means crank. When in the basin at Paisley, seven full grown 
persons stood on one side of her while she was empty, and could not, with 
their united weight, bring down that side to within some inches of the water. 
The keel was, however, very deep and heavy, and is to be altered. 

“It may be proper to mention that the Ardrossan canal is, throughout, 
very narrow’; at the bridges and many other places, it is only nine feet 
broad. It has a great number of turns, and many of them very sudden.” 

This voyage, at once set at rest all doubts on the subject of the effect of a 
high velocity with a gig-shaped boat in a canal; and the boat in question has 
since been regularly plying on the Ardrossan canal, carrying from forty to. 
fifty passengers, between Glasgow, Paisley, and Johnstone; and has fulfilled 
all the anticipations of the parties for whom she was constructed. 

From the above, it will be seen that the question of surge and injury to 
the banks, so much feared, and so strenuously insisted upon by the parties 
opposed to improvement, was forever set at rest by the voyage made by the 
light gig boat, in one of tiie narrowest canals in Scotland. 

The trial of the Paisley boat was speedily followed by a second trial, on 
the Forth and Clyde and Union canals, of a twin boat built for Mr. Gra- 
hame, by Mr. Hunter of Glasgow, to prove, on a large scale, the practica¬ 
bility and advantages of twin boats for canal navigation. 

The boat built by Mr. Hunter being launched, an experimental voyage 
was made to and from Endinburgh. At this voyage! was present, at the re¬ 
quest of the Committee of Management of the Forth and Clyde canal, in order 
to give an opinion as to the practicability of the application of steam power. 



341 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

*0 propel, with rapidity, a boat of the twin form. The following is an accu¬ 
rate account of this experimental voyage. 

[The account of this voyage will be seen in the extracts already published 
from the same work.] 

The facts detailed in the preceding article seem to establish the principle, 
that the greater the speed the less the surge; and that a gig-shaped boat, 
moving at a velocity of nine miles per hour, completely surmounted the 
surge, and rode over the accumulating swell that, otherwise, would have 
risen in her front. 

It is a curious yet important fact, that a gig-shaped boat, moving at a ve¬ 
locity of from seven to eight miles an hour, produces a considerable swell 
running longitudinally with the canal, and, by the displacement of water, 
forms a hollow trough, with a heavy surge fore and aft of the boat, rolling; 
skigglishly along the banks, and, in many cases, washing over the track 
path, ten or twelve inches deep. Produce, however, an impulse equal to 
nine miles an hour, or until the boat is impelled at a velocity greater than 
the undulating motion of the water, and immediately the swell disappears; 
the boat glides smoothly along the surface, and proceeds with as much ap- 
i parent ease, as if she were moving at only four or five miles an hour. 

Having thus mentioned the peculiar adaptation of the twin boat to high- 
speed, and to the conveyance of passengers, I shall now give the reasons, 
why a boat constructed with a stern paddle seems best fitted to succeed in a 
r voyage, where the boat, carrying goods and luggage, has to pass from a canal 
I into the open sea, or vice versa. 

It is quite clear, that, whatever may be the comparative merit of side 
paddles, such paddles are out of the question in canal navigation; as, inde- 
! pendent of their liability to be injured in the locks, and on the banks of the 
i canal, they must contract the bearings of the vessels to which they are at- 
, tached, and make them of ve”y small burthen. The centre paddle or twin, 
boat principle, in like manner, contracts the bearings of the vessel, and the 
tunnel in which it works is liable to be choked, whenever the vessel moves 
from the canal into the sea, in stormy weather. 

The stern paddle seems, therefore, the only means for adapting a canal 
steamboat, both for sea voyages and canal traffic. The Cyclops steamer,. 

> formerly mentioned as built for the use of the Forth and Clyde Canal Com¬ 
pany, fully confirms this conclusion, and also points out what improvements 
maybe made on boats of this description. I shall here give an account of 
her first voyage to Alloa, as contained in a letter from Mr. Grahamc to my¬ 
self, in the month of October last: 

Glasgow, 1th October , 1S30. 

“My dear Sir: Since I wrote you last, I have been on the Firth ©£ 
Forth, and through our canal in Mr. Nelson’s boat,'with the paddle behind!.; 
and the results of this voyage have been most # satisfactory. The boat, ex¬ 
cept as regards shape, is replete with errors. She is too heavy, viz. she 
bears about with her a quantity of iron, sufficient to build nearly two boatfs 
of the same size, and of equal strength. Her engine, which ought to h&ve 
been high pressure, is low pressure, and, though a sweet-going machine, is. 
much too heavy. Her paddle, which, from its position, must necessarily la¬ 
bor under the disadvantage of a deficient surply of water, is so placed as to 
enjoy this disadvantage to its greatest possible extent, and, in addition, a 
considerable portion of the broken water, coming from the paddle, strikes, 
on the stern-iron of the boat, and retards her progress. I could state a num- 





342 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

ber of other fault?, but will not trouble you with them. The party most 
opposed to stern paddles could not have desired a trial, where every possi¬ 
ble disadvantage was more decidedly experienced. With all these disad¬ 
vantages, and taking them to be irremediable, I am decidedly of opinion, 
that, in all cases where the breadth of a boat is limited, or where the pad¬ 
dles are subjected to risk of damage from narrow banks, &c. stern paddle- 
boats will be introduced, as best adapted for boats intended to carry large 
cargoes of goods, at a moderate velocity. If all that is wanted is despatch? 
or the slow or moderate trackage of vessels through a canal, the stern 
paddle may not answer so well as side or centre paddles; but if a boat is 
wanted which will carry a large cargo, and move, both in a canal, river, or 
at sea, with a moderate velocity, then the stern paddle g is the rigjit means. 

“ We have already ascertained that the Cyclops can move through the canal 
with twenty tons of cargo, at a rate of about four miles and a quarter per hour,, 
or rather better; and that, even with this loading, she can drag another vessel 
behind her, without any considerable diminution of her speed. Every 
person on board the Cyclops, when the above facts were ascertained, was 
convinced that an increase of the cargo to thirty-five or forty tons, would not 
have affected her speed. In fact, it appears as difficult to lessen her speed 
as to increase it. When her engine makes twenty-five and thirty-three 
strokes in the minute, her velocity in the canal is about the same; while, 
without any addition to the number of strokes, her velocity was increased 
nearly one half when in the Firth of Forth. This clearly shows that the 
deficiency in speed arises from a defective supply of water. 

‘‘But, to return to our experimental voyage: We started from Grange¬ 
mouth for Alloa, after breakfast on Tuesday the 29th of September. The 
distance is said to be ten miles, and cannot be under nine miles. We had 
the tide against us for the first two miles, going out of the Carron river, and 
for the last mile or so going up to> Alloa, and we accomplished the distance 
in one hour and forty minutes, including a stoppage of some minutes for a 
small row boat that hailed us. We returned with a favorable tide in the 
Forth, but strongly against us in the Carron, in an hour and a half. The Cy¬ 
clops in these two voyages was much by the stern,being without a cargo. We 
had intended to take in twenty or thirty tons of coal at Alloa, but could not 
get them. There was a very strong side wind on the Forth, and the Cy¬ 
clops proved herself a most steady, excellent sea-boat, and steered most 
beautifully. She appeared to me to steer far better than a side paddle boat, 
and the men on board said she could turn almost in her own length. When 
we brought her into the canal, we attached her to the passage boat, and she 
drew her along the canal two miles—one mile in fourteen, and the other 
in fifteen minutes. We then detached her from the passage boat, and did 
two other miles, but could not save, by this decrease of her labor, more 
than a minute, or a minute and a few seconds in each mile. She was then attach¬ 
ed to the passage boat, and (fragged her on to Port Dundas. The whole time 
consumed on the voyage from Alloa to Port Dundas, a distance of forty 
miles, including the passage of twenty locks, by the Cyclops, and four by 
the passage boat, a considerable time lost at Grangemouth making some in¬ 
spections, and several other delays, and a long stop at the entrance of the 
Union canal, was something under 10 hours and a half; and if the Cyclops 
had been properly loaded, with a cargo of twenty or thirty tons, the voyage 
would have been accomplished, in less time, with all the delays and the 
trackage of the passage boat. The estimate of Mr. Johnstone, who is to have 
the management of the Cyclops, and myself, is, that with a cargo of from 





343 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

forty to fifty tofts, she will do the voyage to Alloa, even against a head wind, 
in eight hours and a half, and i do not think this period would be much in¬ 
creased, except by delay at locks, though the Cyclops, in addition, towed 
another vessel the whole way. I am afso much inclined to think that she 
will make her way against a head wind, much better than a side paddle 
boat; and that, contrary to the American statement as to stern paddle boats, 
she will do better than any other kind of steamboat at sea; but this does not 
bear on the subject of steam-carrier boats intended for sea and canal naviga¬ 
tion, as to which I am now writing, where breadth of beam or bearing can¬ 
not be attained with side paddles. In canals, stern paddles for goods’ boats 
must be applied, if these boats are intended to go to sea; and, from the ex¬ 
periments already made with the Cyclops, I am certain the application must 
be successful. I am also convinced that a boat, exactly similar to the Cyclops, 
may be built, which will carry a larger cargo, and move at a much higher 
velocity, with the same power. The first improvement is in the use of lighter 
iron; the second improvement is the substitution of a high pressure for a 
low pressure engine, and the cutting away all the iron work which obstructs 
the escape of the broken water. This last alteration would balance the boat 
a great deal better. The next improvements are by no means so certain or 
assured as the two last-mentioned, and consist in an alteration of the position 
of the paddle and of the build behind, so as to obtain abetter supply of wa¬ 
ter for the paddle to act on. To understand these improvements, I beg leave 
to refer to the accompanying sketch of the Cyclops. From this sketch it 
will appear that the paddle works in a box supplied with water from the 
front, sides, and stern of the boat. The supply from the front and sides of 
the box must come in under the bottom of the boat; and, to facilitate the sup¬ 
ply from the front, the centre keel or bottom of the boat is made to ascend 
a little to the front of the wheel, so as to let the water from the bottom of 
the boat get easier into the box or tunnel. The water which supplies the 
wheel, except the portion coming in from the stern, is in a manner pumped 
up by the wheel from under the bottom of the boat, and there is evidently 
a constant want of supply, as the water in the inside box is always lower than 
on the outside. The first improvement, that would suggest itself to any one, 
would be the removal of the paddle nearer to the stern of the boat, or outer 
end of the box, so as to make the supply of water from the bottom of the 
boat more firm, unbroken, and regular, than it can be at that part of the box 
where the paddle is now situated. To this improvement, it may be object¬ 
ed that such removal would not only make the boat hang more by the stern, 
but would cause a lengthening of the connecting rod which moves the pad¬ 
dle, and a consequent loss of power. So far as this objection is founded on 
the additional stern weight, it may be got quit of by the application of a high 
pressure engine. The weight saved by this application would much more 
than counterbalance the additional lever power given to the paddle. At all 
events, if the paddle is not at the end of the box, the box should end where 
the paddle ends, or a small portion of the paddle might even be left out. The 
next improvement would be the giving of a supply of water to the box and 
paddles by two large pipes passing angularly from the side of the boat into the 
front part of the box. This would occasion a certain additional resistance to 
the progress of the vessel, and the question here to be determined, is, wheth¬ 
er this additional resistance would counterbalance the effect of the additional 
supply of water to the wheel. The last improvement, and which is one 
that occurred to myself, would be to cut away the two lower sides of the 


344 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 

boxes on each side of the paddle, so as to give a perfectly free admission of 
the water to the wheel. To this, again, it is objected that you lose a consider¬ 
able portion of the stern bearing of the boat, and that you also require this 
bearing, and the strength of the iron cut away to support the paddles. I 
should think the weight, saved by the high pressure engine, would more 
than counterbalance the loss of bearing; and, at all events, I think the side 
boxes might be partially cut away at the bottom and end, so as to allow the 
supply ofiwater to come more easily and plentifully; and I am rather inclin¬ 
ed to thirrk this is the proper improvement, as, by sinking the side boxes in 
the water a little, they will act as a more effectual protection to the paddles 
against side wave and wind at sea. All that is wanted for the stern paddle, 
is to give it an additional supply of water, and, if such additional supply 
can be obtained, I think these boats will, in time, supersede the use of side 
paddle boats, even as of passenger boats. In the mean time, I think, as 
goods and luggage boats, more especially where breadth of beam is wanted, 
and where it would be contracted by the use of side paddles, they are the 
best. In the case of the Union canal, for instance, where the locks are only 
twelve feet broad, and where it would be very desirable to have a steam, 
communication direct from Edinburgh to Greenock, this can easily be at¬ 
tained by a stern paddle boat. The boat might be nearly twelve feet beam, 
and, by building her of lighter iron, and using a high pressure engine, she 
might be made to carry nearly as much as the Cyclops on the same draught 
of water. This is also the kind of boat which the Mersey and Irwell Com¬ 
pany should get for their goods’ trade. She could act as a dragger when re¬ 
quired, and would herself do more business than three, four, or five of their 
lighters. 

“I have written to the Union Canal Committee on this subject, and wish 
them to employ you to prepare for them a plan and specification of a stern 
paddle boat, and, in the mean time, trouble you with this information . 57 

Since the foregoing letter was written, the Cyclops has been regularly 
trading between Glasgow and Alloa, and has made her voyages to and from 
that place, during several of the most stormy days of this winter; leaving 
Grangemouth on her voyage to Alloa, when no sailing vessel could venture 
out. She has carried in these voyages a cargo at one time of forty tons, and 
performs the voyage, from Alloa to Port Dundas, in little more than half 
the time which is consumed in tracking a vessel of the same burden from 
Grangemouth to Port Dundas, about two-thirds of the distance. Every 
person must be struck with the great power of burden of this vessel (the Cy¬ 
clops) on a small draught of water, and I question much if there be a steam¬ 
boat in the kingdom which, on a draught of almost double that of the Cy¬ 
clops, can carry such a cargo. One of the great objections stated by Mr. 
Grahame to this boat, in his letter to me, is the weight occasioned by the 
unnecessary thickness of the iron side plates, but this was unavoidable, as 
the Cyclops was constructed, or rather altered, from an old passage boat be¬ 
longing to the canal company, where these thick plates were used, and this 
thickness of plate it was impossible to alter, unless the boat had been entirely 
rebuilt. 

Having been consulted by the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, as to the 
improvements suggested by Mr. Grahame on the Cyclops, I have inspected 
her, and made a voyage with her to Alloa. After due consideration, I am 
convinced that all the objections to the build of the Cyclops may be got over, 
and that, by a change in the position of the paddle, a much greater improve- 


[ Doc. No. 101. ] 345 

ment may be made in the powers and capabilities of stern paddle vessels, 
than is at present anticipated. 

The improvements I suggest, would be, to construct a vessel with two 
narrow paddles on each side, close to the rudder or stern of the vessel. 
This would, in a great measure, obviate the objections urged against the Cy¬ 
clops; it would remove every impediment t 0 the free access of the water to 
the paddles, and allow a free and open outlet to the discharge of the whepls 
on each side: it would also give considerably more bearing to the stern of 
the vessel; facilitate tha working of the rudder; and furnish a large useful 
hold, instead of two comparatively small ones. It may here be urged, that 
two paddle wheels, viz., one on each side at the stern, would be liable to tet 
damaged against the locks, bridges, and banks of the canal: this is certainly 
an objection of some weight, but, on a minute inspection of the plan, it will 
be found that a remedy is provided by a fender, or Portcullis, sliding down 
on the outside of the wheels, to protect them from injury during the time 
they are passing the canal: at other times, when the vessel is in the open sea, 
the Portcullis is drawn up, leaving the whole space open for the free action 
of the paddles. 

I am quite persuaded that this change will tend to assimilate, as much as 
possible, the navigation of the sea, rivers, and canals, and will have no ef¬ 
fect on the surge occasioned by the motion of the vessel through the water: 
in fact, I am rather inclined to think it will have a tendency to neutralize 
the surge, and produce no other agitation than a rippling wave in the centre 
of the canal. I think the change must also greatly improve the speed of the 
vessel, but, to what amount, it is impossible to say without trial. A plan 
of the new proposed steamer is annexed to this publication with the other 
plates. 

It may be asked whether steam navigation is applicable to, or would pay 
on canals not communicating with the sea. The experiment of the Cyclops 
has completely proved the benefit of steam navigation in a canal connected 
with a firth or arm of the sea. In this case, greater speed is acquired, both 
in the canal and at sea, than could be got by any other kind of boat, and, in 
addition, perfect regularity is insured after the steamer leaves the canal; or, 
in short, the firth, or arm of the sea connected with the canal, and even the 
sea itself, are turned into a portion of inland navigation, so far as respects 
regularity. 

In a canali however, not communicating with the sea, steam-power must 
be equally efficacious, although, in its general application, it may not be pro¬ 
ductive of the same advantages as on those canals having a free outlet to the 
sea; as. in the latter instance, vessels have the opportunity of extending their 
voyages to the adjoining ports on the coast. 

^However much I was persuaded that steam power was the cheapest for 
high velocities, and also for propelling vessels on canals where the trade was 
regular, I was not, till lately, prepared to consider a steamboat on a canal as 
the cheapest for the conveyance of goods where the trade was irregular, and 
where the boat had not only to contain a cargo, but, at the same time, had to 
carry her own engine, and all the conveniencies necessary for the application 
of machinery. 

Mr. Grahame has lately put into my hands a letter on this subject, ad¬ 
dressed to a shipping company, carrying goods along a line of canal fifty six 
miles in length: the calculations contained in that communication are given 
in the appendix, and seem to be decisive in favor of steam power. 

44 


346 [ Doc. No. 101. ] 

The company to which this letter is addressed, have to pay for a quanti¬ 
ty of horse power sufficient to deliver forty tons of goods at each extremity 
of the line of fifty-six miles every day in the year, besides a .spare power 
employed chiefly in one particular branch of their trade. The sum they 
pay for each delivery is one guinea each way, or at a rate oj about one- 
ninth oj a penny per ton per mile for the trcreka^e oj the goods con¬ 
veyed. The company in question supply the trackling lines, but, with this 
addition, the charge for trackage is not increased to one-eigth of a penny per 
ton per mile. # 

This is certainly a small sum whereon to effect a saving by a change of 
power; but, nevertheless, it appears (from Mr. Grahame’s and my own calcu¬ 
lations) that not only such saving may be effected, but an additional saving 
of a large portion of time can be made, by the change from horse to steam- 
power, Having said this much, I will refer the reader to the calculations 
printed in the appendix, in order that he may draw his own con-clusions as 
to the accuracy of those statements. 

The calculations here referred to make it quite unnecessary to say any 
thing on the subject of steam power as a substitute for trackage on canals. 
If it be so much cheaper than horses in the expensive shape of a moving 
and carrying power, united in the same boat, what advantages may not all 
canals derive from its introduction in the cheap form of a tug-boat in place 
of horses? 

1 should here observe, that the application of steam, either as a propelling 
or tracking power on canals, will, on most navigations, require a regular 
system of management. Certainty and 1 despatch are the very sinews of 
commerce. Every facility should, therefore, be given to the arrival and de¬ 
parture of vessels, to insure the confidence of traders, and perfect certainty 
that goods will be received and delivered at their respective destinations, 
at proper and stated intervals. I conceive this to be a principle of manage¬ 
ment imperative on canal and all other companies, as nothing conduces 
more to the well-being of trading establishments than good regulations* 
founded on celerity and despatch in the traffic. 


Errata . 


Page 155, line 6 from top, for 150 read 1500. 

“ 173, line 10 from top, strike out the word not, 

no doubt the true ones why.” 

44 216, line 7 from top, for 30 read 300. 



























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